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Book 




♦190** 



THE STATE 

OF 

WYOMING 






3 J/ 
T 



v* v^xO**-'* 1 ' 



A Book of Reliable Information 

Published by Authority of 

the Ninth Legislature 



Bryant B. Brooks Governor 

R. P. Fuller Commissioner of Public Lands 

Clarence T. Johnston State Engineer 

H. C. Beeler State Geologist 



1908 



CHEYENNE, WYOMING 

The S. A. Bristol Co., Printers and Binders 
1908 



E 9 1909 



n r \ 



F. 



Pref 



ace 



This work is intended to give a brief outline of the resources 
and possibilities of Wyoming, and the editors have made no 
attempt at high sounding rhetoric, but present the facts available 
in as practical a manner as possible. In a work of this sort it is, 
of course, impossible to give the details of the various resources 
and localities treated, but an effort has been made to cover the 
subject in a general and interesting manner. 

Wyoming has more undeveloped virgin soil within its borders 
than any other state in the Union, and there is no doubt whatever 
that it will repay the most rigid investigation of the various matters 
outlined in this work. 

A special effort has been made to give up-to-date information 
relative to the great irrigation projects now under way by the 
United States Geological Survey; the vast enterprises operating 
under the Carey Act; the extensive private irrigation enterprises, 
as well as the agricultural, livestock and mineral developments, 
together with some of the openings for investment of capital and 
a brief statement of the political, educational and social conditions 
which exist. 

The legislature of 1907 provided for the creation of the De- 
partment of Immigration, composed of three appointive state 
officers. The undersigned, having been appointed, have, under 
the direction of the Governor, revised and re-edited the pamphlet 
known as the " State of Wyoming", and propose to issue separate 
pamphlets on each of the different counties of the state as soon 
as the requisite detailed information may be secured. All inquiries 
relating to any part of the state, addressed to the Department of 
Immigration, Cheyenne, Wyoming, will receive prompt attention. 

Henry C. Beeler, 

State Geologist, 

President. 
Clarence T. Johnston, 

State Engineer. 
Robert P. Fuller, 

Commissioner of Public Lands, 



March 31st, 1908. 



Secretary. 



i-joity 



Wyoming at a Glance 



Area, 97,890 square miles. 

Mean temperature, 44 degrees. 

Peerless in its educational facilities. 

Wool clip for 1907 worth $12,000,000. 

Area of coal land, 20,000 square miles. 

Highest grade of soft coal known to man. 

Finest trout fishing known to mortal man. 

Mean elevation, 6,000 feet above sea level. 

Cattle in 1907, 700,000, worth $14,000,000. 

Area covered with timber, 10,000,000 acres. 

Population (estimated), July 1, 1907, 120,000. 

Tons of stream tin have been mined and sold. 

Lofty mountains, rolling plains, vast plateaus. 

Iron, copper and coal enough for a vast empire. 

Five million head of sheep, valued at $17,500,000. 

Foremost in the application of the Carey desert land act. 

Father of modern irrigation law and the reclamation act. 

Finest natural plaster on earth, manufactured at Laramie. 

Area subject to irrigation and cultivation, 10,000,000 acres. 

Nutritious grasses, furnishing abundance of feed for live stock. 

Thirteen counties, four judicial districts, four irrigation dis- 
tricts. 

One hundred and fifty cars per day of iron ore shipped from 
Sunrise and Guernsey to Pueblo. 

Natural gas in commercial quantities discovered southwest 
of Douglas. 

Average interest rate in Wyoming, about 8 per cent., indicat- 
ing good business conditions and a strong demand for money. 
Gilt-edged security, of course, brings money at a lower rate. 

Great opportunities for making money in sheep, cattle and 
horses. 



6 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

Greatest wonderland in the world, the Yellowstone National 
Park. 

All the materials necessary for the manufacture of the finest 
glass. 

Coal mines are being operated in all the counties of the State 
save one. 

Area subject to entry under the land laws of the United States, 
48,000,000 acres. 

Most famous rendezvous in the world for large game; the 
hunter's paradise. 

Source of the Columbia, the Missouri, the Colorado, the Rio 
Grande and the Platte. 

Over one million acres of land now being reclaimed under 
government and private enterprises. 

Vast iron deposits, second to no state in the Union, cheaply 
mined and high in value. 

Finest hot springs on earth, equal to Carlsbad in mineral 
properties, located at Thermopolis and Saratoga. 

All the mountain ranges contain gold and silver deposits, 
awaiting the hand of the prospector and the miner. 

Resources practically undeveloped. Greatest field on the 
continent for moneyed men to get in on the ground floor. 

Sulphur, asbestos and plumbago are among the minerals dis- 
covered in quantities considered commercially valuable. 

Grand opportunity for making money in the fattening of 
lambs upon field peas and alfalfa raised upon Wyoming soil. 

The rate of taxation throughout the State has decreased in 
the aggregate during the past ten years two mills on the dollar.- 

Semi-anthracite coal has been discovered in Johnson County, 
and coking coal has been discovered in two or three localities, no- 
tably at Newcastle. 

County bonds have been sold as low as 4 per cent.; school 
district bonds, 4^ per cent., and municipal bonds at the same price, 
showing in the most conclusive manner that the credit of the State 
is very high. 



The State 



Wyoming enjoys the unique distinction of having been under 
more rulers and more kinds of government than any other state 
in the entire Union. According to Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard's 
excellent work on "The Government of Wyoming/' it has been 
under Ferdinand and Isabella, Charles I., Philip II., Philip III., 
Philip IV., Charles II., Philip V., Ferdinand IV., Charles III., 
Charles IV., Ferdinand VII. and Joseph Bonaparte of Spain; 
Francis L, Henry II., Francis II., Charles IX., Henry III., Henry 
IV., Louis XIII. , Louis XIV., Louis XV., Louis XVI. , the Repub- 
lic and the Consulate of France, and Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, 
Oregon, Utah, Nebraska, Washington, Dakota, Idaho, and Wyo- 
ming of America. It is the only state that contains lands obtained 
from all four of our principal annexations which form the territory 
west of the Mississippi River. 

The state takes its name from the wonderful Wyoming Val- 
ley, in Pennsylvania, and is supposed to be a corruption of the 
Indian name "Maughwaumame," meaning large plains. 

Wyoming was organized as a territory July 25, 1868, from 
what was then the southwestern portion of Dakota, northeastern 
part of Utah, and eastern part of Idaho. July 10, 1890, the terri- 
tory was admitted as a state by act of Congress, being the forty- 
fourth state in order of admission. 

Its geographical location classes it among the states of the 
inter-mountain or arid region, being bounded on the north by 
Montana, on the east by Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by 
Colorado and Utah, and on the west by Utah, Idaho and Montana. 
Its length from east to west is 355 miles; width from north to 
south, 276 miles. Its area is 97,890 square miles, or 62,645,120 
acres. 

The region now comprised within the limits of the state was 
traversed by Canadian explorers and other venturesome persons 
at an early date, but the first white settlement appears to have 
been established at Fort Laramie, in the eastern part of the state, 
in the year 1834. Subsequently trading posts were established 
in other localities, and still later the building of the Union Pacific 



8 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

railroad and the adaptation of the western country to the cattle 
business led to further settlement. 

In general appearance the country is mountainous, with val- 
leys, rolling plains and plateaus, the latter covered with grasses of 
great nutrition and furnishing admirable pasture for live stock, 
while the mean elevation is 6,000 feet above sea level, with ex- 
tremes ranging from 3,000 to 14,000 feet. Probably 10,000,000 
acres of the total area of the state are covered with timber. 

Flowing east or west, according as their source is on the east- 
ern or western slope of the main range of the Rocky Mountains, 
which cross the state from north to south, are numerous streams, 
among the number being the North Platte, Snake River, Green 
River, the Big Horn, the Shoshone, the Laramie and the Yellow- 
stone. None of these streams are navigable in a commercial sense, 
but they furnish water for the irrigation and development of the 
surrounding country, and in some instances are used for the trans- 
portation of timber. 

The soil is a light, sandy loam; dark and rich in the valleys. 
When reclaimed by the application of water, bountiful returns -of 
agricultural products, with the exception of such as thrive only 
at low altitude and in warm, damp climates, are secured. It is 
estimated that 10,000,000 acres of the area of the state are suitable 
for agricultural purposes by irrigation. 

There are thirteen counties, four judicial districts, four irri- 
gation divisions and many school districts. The capital is located 
at Cheyenne, in the southeastern corner of the state. 

The climate is similar to that of the mountain region of Italy, 
and is not, as sometimes erroneously supposed, extraordinarily 
severe in winter. The average mean temperature for the year is 
-about 44 degrees, varying somewhat according to elevation, and 
the atmosphere is rarefied and pure, with but few cloudy days. 
Winds sometimes prevail during the spring and fall, but cyclones 
and tornadoes are unknown, while the dryness of the atmosphere 
tends to ameliorate the effects of extreme cold. Snow storms are 
usually followed by chinook winds, which serve to uncover the 
pastures, so that live stock get the benefit of the grasses cured by 
the summer sun, and as the cured native grasses retain their nu- 
trition, it enables the stockman to support his stock upon the open 
range with little, and in the case of sheep raising, no additional 
food. Western blizzards have been largely exaggerated, and some 
people consider the mountain climate synonymous with constant 
storms, dangerous to life. Nothing could be farther from the 
truth. But few climates are more bracing, healthful or pleasant 
than the climate of the mountain region of the western states. The 
almost constant sunlight is not only pleasant, but beneficial from 
a sanitary standpoint, and it is a well recognized fact in the med- 
ical profession that certain diseases, notably pulmonary affections, 



THE STATE 9 

are much benefited by change from the states of lower altitudes to 
Wyoming or adjacent states. (See article on Climate.) 

Gold, copper and coal mining, petroleum production and 
raising live stock are the most important business interests of the 
state. (See articles on these resources.) As will be noticed else- 
where in this publication, the supply of coal underlying the state 
is apparently inexhaustible, and constant employment is furnished 
to a great many miners. 

The raising of live stock in its departments, however, prob- 
ably now claims the attention of more people than any other indus- 
try, and the facilities for prosecuting that business are such as to 
commend it to the attention of prospective settlers. It is a no- 
ticeable feature of the present condition of the state that many of 
the former large herds of cattle have, in recent years, been reduced, 
without, however, materially reducing the total number of cattle 
in the state, while the number of small herds owned by ranchmen 
and farmers has largely increased, and it is doubtful if any other 
state can show an agricultural population whose financial condi- 
tion averages better than that of Wyoming's ranchmen. Many 
are here to testify to the benefits and profits derived by them from 
the use of the free pasture lands of the open range, with its nutri- 
tious native grasses, the opportunities of acquiring government 
land, cheap fuel and healthy climate, and the large area of the 
state in proportion to the present population is sufficient evidence 
that opportunities by which others have heretofore profited are 
still offered to the prospective settler. 

The state is destined in the very near future to become the 
richest, in its diversified natural resources, of any in the Union. 
The minerals listed in another part of this pamphlet are here in 
quantity. There are vast coal fields as yet unopened and subject 
to entry under the United States statutes. There is an enormous 
area of oil land, most of which is still open for location. There are 
mountains of iron ore; there is probably more copper than in any 
other state — veins from four to twenty-five feet wide, running 
from 15 per cent, to 70 per cent. — and many rich gold bearing 
lodes. 

Hot Springs abound, which not only equal but surpass the 
famous Carlsbad Springs of Europe. The analysis of the waters 
and the results of their use have demonstrated this to be true. 

The only thing necessary to make the state all and more than 
is claimed for it in this pamphlet is more transportation facilities 
— railroads operated in the interest of local development and not 
solely for trans-continental traffic — more capital invested on a 
business basis, and more men of brains, push and honest purpose. 
To such fortune stands upon the Continental Divide, with winning 
smile and outstretched arms; to such Wyoming extends a hearty 
greeting and a co-operative hand. 



Albany County 



Albany County was named by a representative from the then 
unnamed county to the Dakota Legislature, who, being a former 
resident of Albany, New York, named the new county Albany. 
It has an area of 3,248,640 acres; of this, 1,393,094 acres are listed 
for taxation. The population of the county, census of 1905, is 
given at 9,992. Total valuation of county, $5,219,974.50. The 
mean elevation, 6,500 feet. 

Agriculture — Twenty-five years ago those who suggested that 
agricultural products might be raised with profit in Albany County 
were ridiculed. To-day hundreds of citizens are not only making 
a living, but are reaping large profits. The soil of the Laramie 
plains is suitable and the season at an elevation of 7,000 feet is 
sufficiently long for all kinds of small grain, two crops alfalfa, 
nearly all the vegetables, sugar beets, etc., as years of experiment 
and successful practice have amply demonstrated. A ready mar- 
ket is found for all kinds of farm produce at prices far in advance 
of those prevailing in Kansas and Nebraska. 

The large ranches of this county, especially on the Laramie 
plains, are being rapidly subdivided into smaller farms and are 
attracting a fine class of settlers who are rapidly improving their 
holdings and are generally prosperous. 

One project, that of the Laramie Development Company, has 
purchased the Blackburn and Millbrook ranches, an area of 8,400 
acres. This land has old and ample water rights and is being sold 
in small areas to eastern farmers. This will give farms of eight}^ 
acres each to one hundred and five families and a large portion of 
it has already been sold. 

It is reported that the Haley ranches have been acquired for 
similar purposes, and there are a number of similar projects which 
will be announced in detail in the near future. 

Stock Raising is still the principal industry, and more than 
$2,000,000 is invested in domestic animals. The days of the large 
outfits have passed, but the business has not declined in conse- 
quence and is far more profitable. Under existing conditions, 
the ranchmen of Albany County keep just the number of animals 
that can be well cared for in the winter time, and it is the universal 



ALBANY COUNTY 11 

practice at the present time to provide sufficient forage to carry 
all stock through in good condition. The constant evolution from 
the large to the small ranch now in progress has required a steady 
improvement in the grade of stock raised, and Albany County 
animals have been prize winners at a number of the largest stock 
shows in the country. Constant experiment by the more pro- 
gressive ranch- and stockmen has been carried on and very profit- 
able results obtained. Feeding of lambs on field peas, taking the 
place of both corn and alfalfa, has been very successful, and an 
immense acreage of this fodder is now cultivated. Land owners 
are rapidly learning that it is more profitable to bring their land 
under proper cultivation than to hold it solely for range purposes. 

The City of Laramie is the county seat and principal town. 
Its population, census of 1905, is 7,601, and here is located the 
University of Wyoming. The public school system is of the very 
best, and among the manufacturing cities of the state, Laramie 
takes first place. 

The Union Pacific Railroad operates large shops and a tie- 
preserving plant at this place. The ties are brought here from 
the mountains to undergo a pickling process which prolongs their 
lives perhaps two and one-half times. Here also is located the 
Union Pacific rolling mill, which makes track supplies for this vast 
system. It is a freight division on the Lmion Pacific, and many 
railroad men have their homes established at this point. 

There are three plaster mills located at Laramie, that of the 
Overland Cement Plaster Company, and. the Acme Cement and 
Plaster Company, which control about 1,000 acres of land con- 
taining a deposit of natural plaster from six to eight feet in 
thickness. This raw material is put through a calcining process 
and becomes the finest of building material. It is used throughout 
the west, the output of the three mills being estimated at thirty 
thousand tons finished plaster. The third plaster mill, belonging 
to the Consolidated Plaster Company is situated nine miles south 
at Red Buttes Station on the Union Pacific Railroad. Its product 
is made from gypsum, of which there is an unlimited supply in 
this vicinity, and the mill is known as a hard-rock mill. Four 
grades of plaster are manufactured at this point and a very fine 
grade of plaster of paris. 

A large quantity of limestone is shipped to the beet sugar 
factories and smelters of Colorado from quarries situated just east 
of Laramie where a spur has been constructed from the quarries 
to the Union Pacific. This limestone is of the purest yet discov- 
ered in the United States, and the supply is practically unlimited. 
A number of years ago this limestone was also used in the manu- 
facture of glass, and as all the other ingredients for the production 
of a superior quality of glass are found at Laramie, it is certain 



12 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

that this will again be the manufacturing point for glass and 
glass products under the changing conditions of manufactures 
in the United States. 

The Laramie Creamery did a business last year exceeding 
$10,000, and it is constantly increasing. This is one of the most 
important new industries of the town, and has a large source of 
supply and an immediate market for its product. 

The Overland Cereals Company have taken over the flouring 
mill at Laramie, and will erect a grain elevator of large capacity 
at once. This company has recently imported a car of seed wheat 
of a new variety, which has been successfully cultivated in Colora- 
do, and matures about eighteen or twenty days earlier than the 
usual varieties now raised. 

Lumber is manufactured in the adjacent mountains, and a 
large planing mill as well as a pressed brick plant is in operation 
at Laramie. Building material and labor are more reasonable 
than in most western cities, hence buildings for homes and business 
purposes can be constructed at fair rates. 

State Fish Hatchery Number 1 is located five miles southeast 
of Laramie, and at this institution more than a million small fry 
are hatched annually and distributed among the streams of the 
state. With two exceptions, the streams of Albany County were 
naturally without trout, hence the State Hatchery has been of 
untold value to the local angler, as well as to those who enjoy the 
delicacy of trout upon their tables. No better trout fishing is 
enjoyed by the people of any section than is had by the people of 
Albany County. 

Fruit Growing.— Many of the residents of Albany County are 
successfully raising small fruit, such as raspberries, currants, 
gooseberries, strawberries, etc., and some successful attempts have 
been made at raising apples and other large fruits. One ranchman, 
Mr. Jacob Lund, has for a number of years raised Wealthy apples 
at his ranch near Jelm at an elevation of 7,400 feet, and there is 
no reason to believe that fruit in almost endless variety cannot be 
raised in portions of Albany County, as continued experiments 
at this point have shown that a number of varieties are especially 
adapted to this locality. 

Mining — The mineral resources of this county are treated in 
the special article on this subject, and consist of copper, gold and 
placer mines, some of which are under active development at this 
time. 

In Conclusion it may be said that Albany County holds out 
to the man of small fortune much that is alluring. Here is an op- 
portunity to make a comfortable home in a country that is prosper- 
ous and in a climate that is unsurpassed in all that pertains to the 
health of mankind. 



trict. 



BIG HORN COUNTY 13 

Albany County is in Cheyenne United States land office dis- 



Big Horn County 



Big Horn County was so named from the Big Horn or Rocky 
Mountain sheep, which abound in the Big Horn Mountains,, on 
the east side of the Big Horn Basin. The county was organized 
in 1896, and population is given in the census of 1905 as 8,942. 

The total assessed valuation is given at $4,851,918.42. The 
area listed for taxation is given at 249,802 . 10 acres. The average 
elevation of agricultural portion is 4,000 feet. 

It was the last organized county of the state, and consists of 
that portion of the northwestern corner known as the Big Horn 
Basin. This is, in many respects, one of the most remarkable 
basins situated on either side of the great Continental Divide. 
This is true, whether we consider its great area, the lofty moun- 
tains enclosing it on all sides except the north, its equable climate 
or the fertility of its soils. On the east looms up the Big Horn 
Range, some of its peaks rising 12,000 feet above sea level; on the 
west tower the equally high peaks of the Shoshone Range, spurs 
of the great Continental Divide; on the south is the Owl Range, a 
spur of the Continental Divide connecting it with the southern 
end of the Big Horn Range. The usual. elevation of the divides 
connecting these peaks is from 9,000 to 10,000 feet above the sea 
level. Among these mountains are found some of the finest ex- 
amples of mountain and canon scenery to be found on this conti- 
nent. 

Passing centrally through this basin in a northerly direction, 
its meanderings covering more than one hundred miles, is the Big 
Horn River. Its entrance into the basin has been made in some 
past convulsion of nature, through the Owl Range, by an impassa- 
ble canon of about four miles in length. Its exit from the basin 
to the north has been made by cutting through the northerly end 
of the Big Horn Range by a very remarkable canon of about twen- 
ty miles in length, its walls rising almost vertically 1,200 to 1,500 
feet above the water. Intermediate between these canons this 
river passes through Sheep Mountain, a secondary and detached 
range, by a canon of about three miles in length, but equally as 
interesting as the other two. The Big Horn Range, west of its 
lower cation, is designated Pryor Mountain, which gradually re- 
cedes in height until it drops to the level of the plain bordering 



14 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone. Around the base of this moun- 
tain is the natural outlet from the Big Horn Basin. 

Stock Raising. — Every square mile of the area of this county 
nbt utilized for agriculture, except a very small percentage which 
forms the slopes of the highest mountain peaks, may be said to be a 
livestock range. The experience of many years with cattle, horses 
and sheep in this locality has amply proven that at elevations of 
from 7,500 to 10,500 feet all stock will keep fat for four months of 
the year, and the grasses on the high mountain plateaus with 
their intervening valleys furnish grass of sufficient fattening pro- 
perties for summer feed and until covered with snow in the fall. 
The Big Horn Basin has alwaj^s been a game and stockman's 
paradise, and livestock forms an important item on every ranch 
and farm in the county. 

Agriculture. — The greater part of the irrigable lands have an 
altitude varying from 3,400 feet to 4,400 feet. Oats yield from 
forty to eighty bushels per acre, wheat thirty to sixty, rye twenty- 
five to fifty-five, barley forty to sixty, corn thirty to fifty, and is 
as sure a crop as in Iowa; alfalfa three to seven tons, other grasses 
two to four tons per acre. 

In this county the state, under the Carey Arid Land Act, has 
segregated 400,000 acres of land, which will shortly be placed un- 
der irrigating ditches, and which will provide homes for thousands 
of people. (See article on Lands.) 

There is no better location in the west than this section for a 
beet sugar factory. 

Within the belt lying between 5,500 and 6,500 feet elevation 
timothy and redtop do exceptionally well; alfalfa produces two 
cuttings. Below this belt, with ordinary good management, al- 
falfa will yield three good cuttings. Its seed comes to full matu- 
rity and is of good quality. It is believed that in no locality of 
the world are small grains of superior quality or in larger yield per 
acre. All the roots, such as potatoes, carrots, rutabagas and beets 
of all kinds, thrive excellently well up to 6,500 feet elevation. It 
is not uncommon for beets and rutabagas, where well cultivated, 
to attain weights of ten or fifteen pounds, and solid to the core. 
Of melons, the cantaloupe matures of excellent quality; so does 
the watermelon, though to a less extent. The potato is a large 
yielder and of quality unsurpassed anywhere. Such garden veg- 
etables as radishes, lettuce, cauliflower, beans and peas do well at 
all altitudes. Radishes, lettuce and cauliflower come to perfec- 
tion above 5,500 feet altitude and are of unsurpassed quality and 
flavor. 

As an instance of what has been done, the following extracts 
from the third annual statement of the Bench Canal Company, 



BIG HORN COUNTY » 15 

Burlington, Wyoming, showing earnings as grown in crops and 
stock pasturage, may be of interest: 

Herman Werbelow, on 50 acres— 

675 bushels oats @ 50c .... $ 337.50 

465 bushels wheat . ... . . 232.50 

80 bushels potatoes @ 60c 48.00 

100 bushels corn 50.00 

Garden 100.00 

40 acres fall pasture 40 . 00 

230 bushels rye @ 50c 115.00 $ 923.00 

Fritz Moeller, on 150 acres— 

1,900 bushels oats @ 50c. $ 950.00 

350 bushels wheat @ 50c 175.00 

70 pounds alfalfa seed @ 12c. . 8.40 

30 tons hay @ $4.00 120.00 

Garden 50.00 

50 bushels potatoes @ 60c 30.00 

100 acres fall pasture 100.00 $ 1,433.40 

G. K. Baker, on 160 acres — 

150 tons hay @ $4.00 $ 600.00 

600 bushels oats @ 50c 300 .00 

100 bushels wheat @ 50c 50.00 

150 bushels barley at 60c . . 90.00 

2 tons sugar beets 40.00 

150 bushels potatoes @ 60c 90.00 

2,000 pounds alfalfa seed @ 12c. . 240.00 

Garden 100 .00 

160 acres fall pasture 160.00 $1,670.00 

Friedrich Mayland, on 160 acres — 

2,200 bushels oats @ 50c $1,100.00 

200 bushels wheat @ 50c 100.00 

65 bushels barley @ 60c 39.00 

100 bushels potatoes % 60c 600.00 

75 tons hay @ $4.00 300.00 

Garden 50.00 

100 acres fall pasture .. 100.00 $ 2,289.00 

W. H. Packard, on 240 acres — 

75 tons of hav @ $4 . 00 $ 300 . 00 

1,000 bushels oats @ 50c v 500.00 

250 bushels wheat @ 50c 125.00 

Garden 700.00 

240 acres fall pasture. 240.00 

5,000 pounds honey @ 10c . . 500.00 $2,365.00 

J. Adam Preis, on 160 acres — 

3,324 bushels oats and wheat @ 50c $1,662.00 

110 bushels barley @ 60c 66.60 

100 tons hay @ $4.00 400.00 

200 bushels potatoes @ 60c 120.00 

Garden 100.00 

160 acres fall pasture 160.00 $2,508.60 



16 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

William Peper, on 80 acres — 

1,160 bushels oats @ 50c . . $ 580.00 

70 bushels wheat at 50c 35.00 

70 bushels barley @ 60c 42.00 

75 bushels corn @ 50c 37 .50 

50 bushels potatoes @ 60c . T 30 . 00 

Garden 50.00 

80 acres pasture 80.00 $ 854 .50 

W. A. Shoemaker, on 160 acres — 

150 tons hay @ $4.00 ... $ 600.00 

1,100 bushels oats @ 50c 550.00 

500 bushels wheat @ 50c 250.00 

100 bushels potatoes @ 60c 60.00 

2,000 pounds alfalfa seed at 12c • . . . 240 . 00 

Garden 50.00 

160 acres pasture 160.00 $1,910.00 

V. G. Lantry, on 160 acres — 

800 bushels oats @ 50c $.' 400.00 

200 tons hay @ $4.00 800.00 

160 acres fall pasture 160.00 $1,360.00 

Joseph Hany, on 50 acres — 

250 bushels oats @ 50c $ 125.00 

430 bushels wheat @ 50c 215.00 

20 tons hay @ $4.00 80.00 

150 bushels potatoes @ 60c 90.00 

Garden 25.00 

50 acres fall pasture 50 . 00 

2 tons beets 40.00 $ 625.00 

J. S. Nicholson, on 80 acres — 

1,350 bushels oats @ 50c $675.00 

100 bushels wheat @ 50c . 50.00 

40 bushels barley @ 60c 24.00 

18 tons hay @ $4.00 72.00 

40 acres fall pasture 40.00 $ 861 .00 

Orin Perry, on 20 acres — 

150 bushels oats @ 50c $ 75.00 

150 bushels potatoes @ 60c 90.00 

Garden 200.00 

20 acres pasture 20 . 00 

8,000 pounds honey @ 10c 800.00 $1,185.00 

J. W. Bell, on 160 acres — 

3,204 bushels oats @ 50c $1,602.00 

365 bushels wheat @ 50c 182.50 

100 bushels barley @ 60c 60.00 

300 bushels potatoes @ 60c . : 180.00 

Garden 50.00 

30 acres fall pasture 30.00 $2,104 . 50 

As these records were made some time ago, when transporta- 
tion and other conditions were not as favorable as at present, it 




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£ fc 



BIG HORN COUNTY 17 

is evident that they may be readily duplicated, if not exceeded, 
under present conditions. 

(See other Big Horn statistics in article on " Agriculture" in 
this pamphlet.) 

Horticulture — All the small fruits, such as raspberries, cur- 
rants, strawberries and gooseberries, grow wild, and tame varieties 
do well. Apple and peach trees of two years' growth promise suc- 
cess. 

Irrigation — In addition to the large volume of water deliv- 
ered by the Big Horn River, running centrally through the county, 
its large and numerous tributaries furnish a superabundance of 
water for irrigating large bodies of land that can be gotten under 
ditch. From the east flow Kirby, No Wood and Shell Creeks; 
from the west come Owl Creek and its much larger tributaries of 
Grey Bull and Wood River; then the two forks of the Shoshone 
River, and still farther to the north the Clark's Fork of the Yel- 
lowstone. 

More extended reference to minerals, agriculture, stock rais- 
ing, climate, hot springs, etc., will be found elsewhere in the arti- 
cles upon Geology, Agriculture, Climate and Health and Stock 
Raising. 

In this county are situated the towns of Cody, Meeteetse, 
Garland, Basin, Byron, Cowley, Lovell, Burlington, Germania, 
Grey Bull, Worland, Wiley, Otto and Bonanza. At Bonanza, 
Byron and Garland there have recently been discovered lubricating 
and illuminating oils, and it promises to develop into a very rich 
oil district. There are business opportunities in all of these towns. 

From Cody tally-ho stages run to Mammoth Hot Springs, in 
the Yellowstone National Park, a distance of fifty miles, through 
scenery which is not equalled in the Alps. (See article entitled 
"Yellowstone National Park.") 

Big Horn Hot Springs — These springs were ceded to the state 
in 1897, together with ten square miles of land from the Shoshone 
Indian Reservation, and are located on the Big Horn River, just 
opposite Thermopolis, about fifty-four miles in a northerly direc- 
tion from the center of the state. The main spring is on the east 
side of the river, about 500 feet back from the bank of the stream, 
and comes to the surface at the foot of Monument Hill, which rises 
about 250 feet above the spring. The surface of the spring is 
about forty-five feet above the river. The stream running from 
the spring to the river is about seven feet wide and two and seven- 
tenths feet deep, and carries about 18,600,000 gallons of water 
every twenty-four hours. The temperature of the spring is 135° 
F. The spring is situated on the east side of a slightly sloping 
plateau, containing approximately ten acres of land, which is cov- 



18 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

ered by a heavy deposit of alkaline salts and sodium, which has 
been deposited by the hot mineral waters spreading over the sur- 
face. This coating is from ten to forty feet thick, and is naturally 
of a pure white color. There are many terraces on the edge of the 
formation, making a very picturesque appearance. There are 
many traces of volcanic action to be seen surrounding the springs 
and formation on the east, north and west sides. These springs 
equal, in every respect, the famous European springs of Carlsbad 
and Aix-la-Chapelle, or the Arkansas springs, and are equal in 
curative properties to the Saratoga Hot Springs. 

The United States land office for this county is at Lander, ex- 
cept for a few townships in the eastern part of the county, which 
are in the Buffalo land office district. 



Carbon County 

Carbon County was organized in 1870 and was named from 
the immense coal deposits which underlie the county. It has an 
area of 11,061 square miles, is noted for its vast herds of sheep, its 
fine cattle and, above all, its rich coal and mineral deposits. It is 
the richest county in mineral resources and stands second to none 
in its stock raising. 

The total number of acres listed for taxation is 1,259,235. 
The assessed valuation of all the real estate in the county is given 
at $1,494,191.00, and the total value of assessed property in the 
county is $6,577,502 . 35. The population, census of 1905, is given 
at 10,313, and the average elevation about 6,500 feet. 

Rawlins is on the Union Pacific railroad, and is the county 
seat of Carbon County. Altitude, about 7,000 feet. It has a pop- 
ulation of about 2,500; has roundhouses and extensive machine 
shops. It is a distributing point for an outlying country, both 
north and south of the railroad. Daily and tri-weekly stages 
leave here for points north and south. The new State Peniten- 
tiary, costing $100,000, is located here, and also a substantial stone 
court house and a fine public school building, which cost, respect- 
ively, $50,000 and $35,000. Here are located and operated fine 
building stone quarries, the Rawlins sandstone being shipped out 
of the state both east and west. The beautiful new government 
building at Cheyenne was built of this stone, as was the State Cap- 
itol. Here also are located the great mineral red paint mines 
(known as Rawlins red), from which the paint for the Brooklyn 
bridge was originally procured. The city is also the supply 



CARBON COUNTY 19 

point for and the headquarters of a vast sheep and wool in- 
dustry. 

Saratoga, a beautiful town of 1,000 inhabitants, is situated 
twenty-three miles south of the Union Pacific railroad, in the heart 
of the great Platte Valley, and is the gateway to the renowned 
Grand Encampment mining district, and is noted for its medicinal 
hot springs. The temperature of the water is 135° Fahrenheit. 
From their chemical analysis, we would say that these springs 
were alkaline-sulphur, in combination with salines and calcareous 
salts. They closely resemble in their different properties the fa- 
mous European springs of Carlsbad, Marienbad, Ems, Teplitz 
and Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Their properties may be summed up as stimulating, absorp- 
tive, alterative and reconstructive, and clinical results have proven 
all the claims made for them by their chemical analysis. It is 
difficult to state what diseases are most benefited by a course of 
baths at these thermal waters. Among the list of those maladies 
which have been relieved at the springs may be mentioned all as 
acute, sub-acute and chronic diseases of all mucus membranes, 
such as catarrh of the nasal passages, the mouth and pharynx, 
the throat, bronchial tubes, the stomach and the whole alimentary 
canal; dyspepsia, due to hyper-acidity of the stomach and gastric 
ulcers ; congestion of the liver, due to catarrh of the bile ducts and 
a sluggish portal circulation, and beginning cirrhosis, acute and 
chronic catarrh of the whole genito-urinary tract. The water acts 
not only by its chemical ingredients in these instances, but also 
mechanically as a sluice upon the system. It is well, therefore, 
for patients to drink it liberally. The water has undoubted bene- 
ficial influence upon gravel, lithiasis and the uric acid diathesis. 
Sanitary analyses have been made showing that this water is en- 
tirely free from every kind of contamination. 

These waters when bottled are unsurpassed by any in the 
United States for drinking purposes, for they are not only pure 
and as pleasant as the Manitou or Idaho waters, but have the 
advantage also of the medicinal qualities so beneficial to the stom- 
ach and kidneys. 

The North Platte River, in which are three wooded islands, 
runs through the city. It is an ideal place for a summer resort 
and sanitarium. The Sierra Madre Mountains on the west and 
south, and the Medicine Bow Range on the east, are each within . 
two or three hours' drive, and present a beautiful view at all times. 
The trout fishing in the river and the mountain streams is unsur- 
passed. The summers are delightfully cool, there being no night 
when a blanket is not needed. 

The completion of the Saratoga and Encampment railroad 
extending from Walcott Station on the Union Pacific has placed 



20 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

this wonderful spring within easy access, and a modern hotel is to 
be erected at this point which will provide ample accommodations 
for all comers. There is an old saying "See Rome and Die", but 
the legend of the west is "See Saratoga and Live". 

Encampment is a town of recent origin, brought forth by the 
prospects of the new gold and copper mines opened in the Grand 
Encampment district, and has a population of about 1,000. It 
has a smelter, concentrating works and tramway to the top of the 
Rockies for conducting the ore. It is situated on the Grand En- 
campment River, twenty miles south of Saratoga. (See article 
on Mineral Resources.) 

Schools — The county has a good public school system. The 
number of schools is thirty-nine and the number of children of 
school age is 1,500. 

Live Stock — One of the chief industries of this county is its 
livestock interests. Of sheep there were, in the year 1907, 389,575, 
valued at $1,192,033. Of cattle, 49,469, valued at $678,824; of 
horses and mules there are 6,455, valued at $165,822. 

Agriculture— This industry has for many years been an im- 
portant one, continually on the increase, and has assumed large 
proportions in the upper Platte Valley country and on the tribu- 
taries of the North Platte River. Wheat, oats and barley are 
raised in large quantities and command a ready price for home 
consumption. The wheat is a very fine, plump grain, making the 
very best of flour. The oats are of a superior quality, and run 
from forty-five to fifty pounds to the bushel. All of these crops 
yield abundantly. Hay is an important crop, and the yield per 
acre is always satisfactory. Timothy and redtop grow luxuri- 
antly, but the native hay, of which there is a large quantity raised, 
is much in favor. Alfalfa or lucerne is a prime favorite, and there 
is a large acreage devoted to the production of that crop. It 
yields from three to four tons per acre, each year, of a very supe- 
rior quality, much esteemed by the stockmen for its fat-producing 
qualities. All kinds of vegetables and small fruits grow abundant- 
ly, and the entire home market is supplied by home production. 
All farming is by irrigation. There are still many thousand acres 
of upland, on either side of the Platte River, that are open to set- 
tlement, and this stream furnishes water for an almost unlimited 
acreage. The feeding of cattle and sheep for the spring market 
is largety engaged in by the inhabitants of this county, who annu- 
ally ship large numbers of sheep and fat beeves to eastern markets, 
commanding the highest market prices, 

t 

Irrigated Lands — An immense canal, taken from the Platte 
River, above the mouth of Encampment Creek, will irrigate over 



CONVERSE COUNTY 21 

50,000 acres of land on the east side of the river, between Encamp- 
ment and Saratoga. 

Surveys have been made and the land segregated, and con- 
struction will be commenced during the coming year, as the com- 
pletion of the Saratoga and Encampment railroad to Encampment 
has greatly facilitated the development of this entire section, and 
the beautiful Platte Valley is attracting settlers from all over the 
United States. Another canal is projected to cover lands on the 
east side of the river and with the opening of this portion of the 
county to settlement by reason of the railway these projects will no 
doubt be taken up and pushed as rapidly as possible. 

Mining — See article on Mining Resources. 

Climate — The climate of Carbon County is beautiful, bracing 
and invigorating, mild and pleasant during the summer months 
and not severely cold or uncomfortable in the winter. It is pecu- 
liarly suited to the building up of weak lungs, and is conducive to 
health and longevity. 

Water and Timber — Carbon County is well watered by moun- 
tain streams, the North Platte River flowing the entire length of 
the county from south to north. Nearly every portion is abun- 
dantly supplied with water for irrigation purposes. The numer- 
ous mountain ranges in the county are covered with an excellent 
quality of pine timber suitable for building purposes and for the 
manufacture of lumber, as well as for fuel. 

Game and Fish — Carbon County streams, while originally 
barren of trout, have been well stocked with every variety of that 
kind of fish, and are to-day the finest trout streams to be found 
anywhere. Trout weighing from ten to twelve pounds are fre- 
quently taken from the North Platte River, and every stream 
swarms with the finny tribe. Game of all kinds, including bear, 
elk and deer, are to be found in the mountain ranges and timber; 
sage hens and grouse inhabit the plains and mountains, and the 
streams and lakes are well supplied with ducks and geese. 

This county is in the Cheyenne United States land office 

district- 



Converse County 



Converse County was organized in 1888. It has an area of 
over 7000 square miles and is 74 miles wide and 102 miles long. 
The altitude is 4800 feet at Douglas and 5200 at Lusk and Glen- 



22 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

rock. The population is about 5500. The North Platte River 
with its tributaries, Deer Creek, Box Elder, La Prele, Wagon 
Hound and La Bonte and Shawnee Creeks, flows through the 
central western part, furnishing an abundant supply for irrigating 
thousands of acres of the most productive land. In addition, 
mammoth reservoirs are being constructed for the further storing 
of water. The La Prele Ditch & Reservoir Co. dam will be 135 
feet high and will create a lake nearly five miles long. The 
Cheyenne River, Lightning, Box, Lance, Hat, Old Woman and 
Walker Creeks furnish stock water and a limited supply for irri- 
gation in the northern and eastern parts of the county. This 
supply is also being increased by the construction of storage reser- 
voirs. 

The Chicago & Northwestern Railway traverses the entire 
length of the county from east to west, connecting at Orin Junction 
with the Colorado & Southern for Cheyenne, Denver and the south. 
The projected Burlington extension from Guernsey to Worland 
passes through Douglas on the north side of the North Platte 
River. The proposed extension of the Colorado & Southern from 
Orin to Sheridan follows nearly the same route to Inez, thence 
going north, and will open up a great agricultural country. 

The assessed valuation of the county in 1907 was $3,684,000. 
It had 8449 horses taxed at $165,452, and 46,469 cattle taxed at 
$678,824, and 357,617 sheep taxed at $839,525. 

The soil is rich loam and very fertile and productive, the cen- 
tral and western and northern part being covered with a heavy 
growth of sagebrush. 

Great progress during the past five years has been made in 
agricultural pursuits in all parts of the county, but particularly 
in the vicinity of Douglas, Manville and Lusk. 

It has been demonstrated that the higher lands on the plateaus 
are equally as fertile and productive as the lower lands, if irrigated. 
Formerly this county was known as a stock county, but is rapidly 
passing into the agricultural column. Chief reliance is placed on 
irrigation in the central western part, but experiments made by 
E. Straup at Douglas, demonstrate that dry farming is more than 
a possibility. In the eastern part of the county, at Pleasant Ridge, 
eighteen miles northeast of Lusk, is located the most successful 
dry farming colony in the state. Immense crops have been pro- 
duced there for the past fifteen years without irrigation, and the 
colony is rapidly extending its limits. 

Hundreds of filings have been made near Manville where 
farming has been successful and profitable for the last eighteen 
years. 

The main agricultural crop is oats, although nearly all varieties 
are grown. Irrigated oats grow to a height of seven feet and yield 



CONVERSE COUNTY 23 

from 40 to 120 bushels per acre, the weight running as high as 45 
pounds per bushel. Wheat yields from twenty bushels on the sod 
to forty and sixty bushels on older ground. Rye and barley yield 
from twenty-five bushels to sixty-five bushels per acre. Timothy, 
millet, clover and brome grass are produced very successfully and 
profitably. Alfalfa grows in certain localities without irrigation, 
but with irrigation produces from two to three immense crops per 
season. Ha} 7 sells from $8.00 to $15.00 per ton. Corn is grown 
mostly as an experiment in the central western part, but in the 
eastern part a good crop is grown. 

Vegetables grow luxuriantly in all parts. With irrigation, 
the growth equals, if not exceeds, California's famous products. 
Potatoes yield from 100 to 300 bushels per acre. Pumpkins and 
squash reach a weight of 75 to 160 pounds. Cabbage forty-three 
pounds; turnips, ten to fifteen pounds. 

The first prize at the Irrigation Congress at Sacramento, Cal., 
in 1907, for agricultural exhibits of grain, was awarded to the 
Converse County exhibit for general superiority. This exhibit 
was grown at the Carey ranch sixteen miles from Douglas. 

At the Wyoming State Fair of 1907, the first prize was award- 
ed to Converse County for the best general exhibit of grains, veget- 
ables and grasses. This exhibit was grown about fourteen miles 
south of Douglas at the Platte Valley Sheep Company ranch. 

There are about 3,500,000 acres of government land in the 
county open to location for settlers. There is an abundance of 
pine, spruce and fir timber growing in the mountains south and 
west of Douglas. Native lumber is furnished at $12.00 at the 
mills and $22.00 in the towns. 

Lubricating oil is found ten miles west of Douglas in quantity 
(see article on oil, this pamphlet), and two large syndicates are 
engaged in developing this industry. 

Converse County's chief mineral resources are coal, copper and 
iron. Two splendid six and seven foot veins, of a superior quality 
of lignite coal, found at Shawnee and Lost Springs, are being 
developed by Nebraska capitalists. A small vein is found at 
Douglas. Four veins of coal of from four and one-half to nine feet 
are found at Inez. At Glenrock and Big Muddy the vein of coal 
is six and seven feet and of excellent quality. A new mine is being 
opened three miles from Glenrock. Coal crops out in veins from 
six to twenty feet in thickness in the northwestern part on the 
proposed route of the Colorado & Southern extension and in other 
parts of the county. 

Sandstone of a superior quality is found in this county three 
miles from Douglas. Also at the Vernon quarries south of Glen- 
rock. Limestone is found south of Glenrock, west of Douglas, 
also at places near Lusk and Manville. Marble, glass sand, potters ' 



24 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

clay and mica have also been located. Gypsum, for commercial 
plaster, is also found in inexhaustible quantities. A gigantic bed 
of the best Portland cement shale, that will furnish 2000 tons daily 
for 130 years, has been discovered within ten miles of Douglas. 

Copper prospects are being developed in the Laramie range 
to the west and south of Douglas. Assays of $68 .00 in silver and 
gold, $240.00 in horn silver and forty to fifty per cent, in copper 
have been obtained. The reorganization of the Esterbrook Com- 
pany into the Boston & Wyoming Copper Company assures exten- 
sive development of that property, which will undoubtedly develop 
a mine. Other good prospects are the Maggie Murphy, at Ester- 
brook, Copper King at Warbonnet, Elkhorn at Glenrock, Jasper 
Hill at Spring Canon, in addition to others not developed. 

Douglas, the county seat, is located on the east side of the 
North Platte River, and is on the line of the Chicago and Norths 
western Railroad, and the survey of the Burlington & Missouri 
Railroad passes through town. It is fourteen miles from Orin 
Junction, the terminus of the Colorado & Southern Railroad, thus 
giving it a southern outlet, an advantage that few towns in the 
state have at the present time. 

The town is growing very rapidly and has at present about 
2000 population. 

Douglas has one of the best graded schools in the West, the 
school buildings costing over $40,000.00, a court house costing 
$38,000.00, many fine private residences, and is in fact a "city of 
homes". There are Congregational, Methodist, Episcopal and 
Catholic Churches. Douglas has up-to-date electric light, water, 
sewer and telephone systems, is near (8 to 12 miles) oil and nat- 
ural gas fields, and it is expected that gas will be piped to the town 
before the close of 1908, thus insuring cheap fuel and light. There 
are several miles of cement walks and all the streets outside of the 
business district are lined with trees cared for by the municipality. 
Tt is the center of a large and growing trade, having large ranch, 
cattle, horse, sheep, mining and lumber interests tributary to it. 
Several large mercantile establishments furnish all the needs of 
the people with stocks that would do credit to a town of 50,000 
people. Adjoining the town the La Prele Ditch & Reservoir Co. 
has 36,000 acres of land under ditch that offers the prospective 
settler an opportunity to procure a home near schools, churches, 
banks and other establishments necessary to a modern up-to-date 
town. 

(See article on Lands). 

Glenrock, in the western part of the county, is a mining town 
of about 700 people with ranch and stock interests tributary to it. 
West of Glenrock are the Big Muddy coal mines with a large output 
of No. 1 coal. 



CROOK COUNTY 25 

In the eastern part of the county are situated the towns of 
Lusk and Manville, both live up-to-date Western towns, with 
populations of several hundred, and surrounded by a magnificent 
range country. 



Crook County 



Crook County was organized in 1875 and was named after Gen- 
eral George Crook, the noted Indian fighter. 

This county is situated in the northeastern corner of the 
state. It is 102 miles long by sixty wide, and has an area of 6,120 
square miles, and is traversed by the Burlington railroad. 

The population of Crook County, census of 1905, is given at 
3,831, and is constantly increasing. The land listed for taxation 
is given at 294,308.96 acres, valued at $835,938.01. The total 
valuation is given at $3,010,933.64. 

County Seat — The county seat and principal town is Sun- 
dance, with a population of about 700, situated at the foot of Sun- 
dance Mountain, on the banks of Sundance Creek, a beautiful 
mountain stream, and in the center of a fertile district. The city 
owns its system of waterworks, substantial city hall, fire appara- 
tus, etc. Merchandising in all its branches, banking and commer- 
cial interests are well represented. 

Altitude and Climate — The altitude of Crook County averages 
about 4,000 feet above sea level; the air is dry, bracing and health- 
ful, with a mean annual temperature of 41 . 1 degrees. The yearly 
precipitation averages twenty-four inches. Agricultural products 
are grown throughout the county without irrigation. 

Agriculture — Agricultural pursuits claim the attention of 
many of the citizens of the county, and wheat, oats, rye, corn and 
every variety of garden vegetables are raised with profit, in many 
instances both the yield and the quality of the product being wor- 
thy of particular mention. Wild fruits of the smaller varieties are 
especially abundant, and considerable progress has already been 
made in the cultivation of the tame varieties. The soil through- 
out the county is a dark, rich loam of great fertility, and the fact 
that crops can be raised without irrigation facilitates agricultural 
pursuits. Wheat yields twenty bushels, oats thirty bushels, rye 
thirty bushels, corn twenty-five bushels, potatoes 100 bushels per 
acre; alfalfa two cuttings, three tons per acre each cutting; millet, 
four tons, timothy two tons. Apples do well, as do all kinds of 
small fruits. 



26 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

This is the only county in the State where agricultural crops 
are generally raised without irrigation, and offers homes to hun- 
dreds of settlers who are assured of good crops from the first year 
after taking up their homesteads. 

This county is very much in need of railroad connections. A 
branch line from the Burlington would add greatly to the devel- 
opment of the county. 

Livestock. — In connection with agricultural pursuits, all kinds 
of live stock are raised extensively. The present return for assess- 
ment shows cattle 53,848, valued at $742,065; 10,296 horses, 
valued at $229,013; 140,013 sheep, valued at $364,096. The total 
value of all livestock is given at $1,344,624.00. 

Mining — Gold, silver, tin, copper, lead and manganese have 
been found in considerable quantities, and extensive fields of a 
good quality of semi-bituminous coal are being developed. Much 
of the future wealth of Crook County will undoubtedly come from 
the development of the coal fields of that locality. Quite exten- 
sive gold placer mining operations have been conducted on Sand 
Creek and vicinity, with profits to the operators. Granite, por- 
phyry, limestone and other building stones and fine marbles are 
found in great variety in abundance. A railroad has been built 
from Belle Fourche, South Dakota, to the Aladdin coal mines, 
near Barrett, Wyoming, a distance of eighteen miles. There are 
also extensive oil fields. 

Valuable coal deposits await transportation facilities. 

Streams and Topography — The county is traversed by the 
Belle Fourche, the Little Missouri and the Little Powder Rivers. 
The water of the streams generally is pure and suitable to domestic 
uses. Along these streams are fertile valleys of fine farming lands, 
and between the streams are found extensive plateaus, suitable 
for grazing. Low ranges of mountains, well timbered, traverse 
the county, adding to the attractiveness of the landscape. 

Timber — The timber found on these mountain ranges is a 
heavy growth of spruce and pine. Oak, ash and cottonwood trees 
also abound. 

Fishing — Many of the streams of the county furnish excellent 
sport to those who enjoy the pursuit of game fish. 

Natural Cariosities — A remarkable formation known as the 
Devil's Tower, a solid basaltic column rising abruptly to a height 
of 1,300 feet, and making a landmark that can be seen for miles in 
every direction, is a notable feature of the topographv of this coun- 

This county is in the Sundance United States land office 
district. 



Fremont County 



Fremont is the west central county of the state, and has an 
average width, north and south, of 100 miles, and a length, east 
and west, of 125 miles. It was organized in 1884 and was named 
after General John C. Fremont, the noted pathfinder and first 
presidential candidate of the Republican party. 

The number of acres of land returned for taxation in 1907 
was 136,470 acres, valued at $730,908, and the total valuation of 
the county is returned at $3,834,416.29. 

The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad extended westerly 
from Casper during 1905 and 1906 and reached Lander during 
October of the latter year. The Burlington Railroad is building 
south up the Big Horn at the present time and will probably enter 
Fremont County within the next year. 

The mean annual tsmperature is 42°. The approximate el- 
evation, outside of the mountain ranges, is 5,000 feet. It is des- 
tined to become a great agricultural district, though at present 
farming is engaged in only for the purpose of supplying a local de- 
mand. Nearly a million acres are susceptible of irrigation, includ- 
ing the land left in the Shoshone Indian Reservation after lands 
have been allotted to all of the Indians. This land, when irrigated, 
produces most excellent crops of wheat, oats, alfalfa and other 
kinds of hay, every variety of vegetables and small fruit, and, in 
the more sheltered parts, fine orchards of the Wealthy and other 
varieties of early apples are yielding a crop which is superior in 
flavor to any apple seen in the irrigated counties. The average 
crops per acre are: Wheat, thirty to forty bushels; oats, forty to 
sixty bushels; potatoes, 200 bushels; alfalfa, two to three tons 
each cutting, and other grasses, about three tons of hay. The 
yield of other vegetables is in proportion to that reported for po- 
tatoes. 

The county is famous for its rich agricultural lands and its 
abundance of water for irrigation. It is also noted for its fine 
apple orchards and abundance of small fruits. The wool clip of 
the county for 1907 was 2,000,000 pounds. There are many small 
cattle ranches in the county, which have been operated success- 
fully for many years. Wheat is grown in the Lander Valley, and 



28 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

it has been a profitable crop annually for the last fifteen years. 
There are three improved flouring mills in the county, one located 
at Lander, another at Milford, the third at the Shoshone Agency. 
All these mills turn out high patent process flour, and the product 
is equal to the best anywhere. Oats and all kinds of garden veg- 
etables grow to perfection. Alfalfa and timothy yield abundant- 
ly, and native hay grasses abound everywhere. 

There is an abundance of timber for building purposes and 
saw mills to cut up the lumber. A fine quality of coal is found in 
inexhaustible quantities all along the valley, which provides a 
cheap fuel for domestic and steam purposes. There are a number 
of oil springs in the county, and ten miles south of Lander are 
thirteen flowing wells, with a capacity of 200 barrels per day each. 
These wells are plugged at present. (See article on Oil.) White 
and red sandstone for building purposes is found in every part of 
the county. Eight miles west of Lander there is a deposit of gray 
marble, and near it an abundant supply of granite. Both of these 
are susceptible of a high polish. 

The streams of Fremont County are numerous and of a lasting- 
character. The Big Horn, Wind River, Little Wind and the 
numerous branches of the Popo Agie are the fountain heads of the 
Missouri River. They take their rise in the Wind River Range, 
whose mountains are among the loftiest of the Continental Divide. 

Fish abound in ail the streams of this section, and trout fishing 
is the pastime of many. There is an abundance of elk, deer and 
antelope, and a number of varieties of bear in the Wind River 
Range and Owl Creek Mountains, which extend nearly the whole 
length of the county. 

Irrigation of Ceded Lands — The largest irrigation enterprise 
in Wyoming has begun the construction of canals under plans 
drawn by the State under authority of the Secretary of the Inte- 
rior. Permission was given the State to enter the Indian reserva- 
tion before the opening of the lands to settlement. This made it 
possible to make surveys and provide a comprehensive scheme of 
reclamation, so that when the lands were opened construction 
might begin. The State advertised for proposals from those who 
had the ability to proceed with this great construction work and 
the permits were granted the Wyoming Central Irrigation Com- 
pany on the first of August under this plan. When the works are 
completed reservoirs will have been constructed to store 300,000 
acre-feet of water and the canals will be among the largest in this 
country. The main canal will be 80 feet wide on the bottom and 
10 feet deep. Fully 300,000 acres of land will ultimately be re- 
claimed. 

The soil is deep and fine. This tract is as free from alkali as 
can be found in the West, and the prospect for deposit of alkali in 



FREMONT COUNTY 29 

the future which might injure growing crops is extremely remote. 
The land can be irrigated cheaply after water has been supplied 
in the main canals. The slope of the country is gentle towards the 
east. 

Fremont County will therefore have the largest single body 
of irrigated lands in the state and as the water supply is unques- 
tioned there is nothing to prevent the successful completion of this 
giant undertaking. The prices fixed for disposing of interests in 
the irrigation works, which insures a perpetual right to use water, 
are lower than those which prevail anywhere in the State. The 
form of contract is similar to those employed under the Carey Act 
projects. 

As soon as the Company has completed its canals this tract 
will offer better opportunities for homes than can be found in 
many celebrated districts of the West and there is no question but 
that settlement will be rapid. 

For further information address — The Wyoming Central Ir- 
rigation Company, Riverton, Wyoming. 

Asmus Boysen and associates are building a power plant at 
Boysen in the Big Horn River Canon, to supply power to the 
various works of the Boysen interests and furnish electric power 
to properties of the Copper Mountain District. This dam will be 
35 feet high and is expected to develop about 2,000 H. P. under 
normal conditions. 

Southern Fremont County has numerous gold deposits, both 
in placer and quartz. (See "Mineral Resources", this pamphlet.) 

Lander is the county seat, and is surrounded by hundreds of 
improved farms. The court house is a fine, large brick structure. 
The public school building is of brick and contains nine large rooms. 
The school is graded, and the graduates of the high school are 
admitted to the State University. The population is about 2,000 
to 3,000, but it is growing too rapidly to be estimated accurately; 
new T people are coming in all the time. A sewer system has been 
installed and many public improvements are under way. One of 
the largest hotels in Wyoming is located here. Streams of water 
flow through the city. Beautiful trees line the streets. In the 
central part of the state, nestling near the base of the lofty snow 
capped ranges, the terminus of the Chicago & Northwestern Rail- 
way, an agricultural as well as a mining center, Lander bids fair 
to be the metropolis of Wyoming. 

Thermopolis is located on the west bank of the Big Horn 
River, in the extreme northeast corner of Fremont County and 
the southeastern gateway to the Big Horn Basin proper, only three 
miles below the mouth of its marvelously picturesque and grandly 
rugged canon through the Owl Creek range, in a beautiful little 
valley nestling among their foot-hills at an elevation of only 4,235 



30 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

feet above sea level, lower by almost 1,000 feet than Denver, 
Colorado, with the agricultural wealth of the great valley of the 
Big Horn at her feet and untold mineral wealth of the Owl Creek 
range looking down upon her from above. 

The near approach of the Burlington road made it necessary 
to increase the facilities for caring for tourists; in consequence the 
building of the Emery Hotel, a fine stone structure, has provided 
this resort with hotel facilities second to none in the State. Two 
sanitariums offer exceptional accommodations to those needing rest 
and treatment, graded schools and churches are well represented, 
while business interests are cared for by substantial banks and 
some 35 business houses. The wonderful Big Horn Hot Springs 
offer relief to the afflicted. The medicinal or curative properties 
are equal in all respects to the famous European springs of Carlsbad 
and Aix-la-Chapelle. 

THE BIG HORN HOT SPRINGS. 
Analysis of the Hot Water* 

GRAINS GRAINS 
PER LITRE PER GALLON 

Silica 0855 46.86 

Iron and Alumina .0039 .227 

Potassium Chlorid 1756 10.240 

Sodium Chlorid 4492 26.195 

Sodium Sulphate 2591 15. 110 

Magnesium Sulphate 3334 19.443 

Calcium Sulphate 2256 13. 156 

Calcium Carbonate 6937 40.454 

Total Solids 2.2260 129.881 

The big spring flows 18,600,000 gallons of water per day. 
Temperature 135° F. 

HOW TO REACH THERMOPOLIS. 

You can reach Thermopolis either by the Chicago, Burlington 
& Quincy Railway out of Chicago and its connections to Kirby, 
Wyoming, and thence by stagecoach twelve miles, or by the Chi- 
cago & Northwestern and its connections out of Chicago to Sho- 
shoni, Wyoming, and thence by stagecoach thirty-five miles. 

Shoshoni, a thriving town located on the new branch of the 
Wyoming and Northwestern, is now the stage and supply point 
for Thermopolis and southern Big Horn County, including the 
celebrated Copper Mountain district, distant about thirty-five 
miles. 

Riverton, another new town located within the Indian Res- 
ervation, has been built up to supply the settlers under the new 
canal of the Wyoming Central Irrigation Company, and, being 



JOHNSON COUNTY 31 

near the center of the irrigable tract and having a fine location on 
Wind River, will, no doubt, be one of the larger towns of interior 
Wyoming. 

The mining camp of Hudson has had considerable growth, 
and, with the development of its coal deposits, will, no doubt, 
make a thriving town. 

These towns are growing so rapidly that it is impossible to 
give a complete and accurate description. 

The United States land office for this county is at Lander, ex- 
cept for a few townships in the southeastern portion of the county, 
which are in the Chevenne land office district. 



Johnson County 



Johnson County was organized in 1879 and named after E. P. 
Johnson, a prominent attorney of Cheyenne. It has an area of 
4,046 square miles. The population of the county, as estimated 
for 1907, was 4,263. The total assessed valuation is given at 
$2,686,072.65. With its rolling plains, extensive forests and 
fertile valleys, it is justly regarded as one of the best sections of 
the State. The Big Horn Mountains have an elevation of 13,000 
feet, while many of the valleys are less than 4,000 feet above the 
sea level. 

The resources of the county are varied. Stock raising is a 
chief industry, and the amount of the various stock returns are as 
follows: horses and mules, 6,912, valued at $168,001.00; cattle, 
38,354, valued at $532,259 . 00; sheep, 237,986, valued at $644,663; 
swine, 563, valued at $2,840.00. The total acreage listed for 
taxation is given at 203,885, valued at $765,040.67. The vast 
open range and abundant streams of pure water make it a paradise 
for cattle. There are thousands of acres of grazing lands, and 
sufficient land can be irrigated to produce enough hay, grain and 
alfalfa to make winter feed for all the live stock that the range 
will support in summer. The county is one of the best watered 
counties in W T yoming, being well supplied with small streams head- 
ing in the Big Horn Mountains, and flowing generally to the 
northeast or northwest. 

Agriculture— The northern part of the county is a good farm- 
ing country and easily accessible by means of the Burlington 
Railway. All kinds of vegetables are successfully raised; cabbage, 
turnips, potatoes, rutabagas, lettuce, parsnips, cauliflower, beets, 
carrots, celery, broomcorn and sorghum cane are all grown with 



32 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

success, while melons, apples, peaches, pears, and all small fruits 
of unequalled flavor and excellence are cultivated. Yield of oats 
per acre is forty-five to one hundred bushels; potatoes average 
400 bushels but have a record of 974 bushels and 48 pounds raised 
on a single acre; alfalfa produces three crops per year, of from five 
to eight tons per acre ; wheat runs from thirty to sixty bushels per 
acre; and other crops in proportion. 

There are 112,000 acres under irrigation, and 200,000 acres are 
susceptible of irrigation and only await the advent of the indus- 
trious settler, who can here obtain a good home cheap, and there 
are 2,000,000 acres of available grazing land. Pasture lands sell at 
$2, irrigated from $15 to $50 per acre. Prices of products obtained 
by ranchmen are as follows: alfalfa, $3.50; timothy, $6; bluestem, 
native, $8 per ton; oats, $1.25 per cwt.; wheat and potatoes, $1 
per cwt. There is a large supply of pine timber taken from the 
mountains, which is well suited for building purposes. Along the 
streams are thrifty groves of cotton wood, and experiments have 
shown that timber of various kinds can be as successfully grown 
here as in the prairie states of Kansas and Nebraska. 

Minerals are yet undeveloped, but valuable prospects in gold, 
silver and copper are found in the Big Horn Mountains. Oil is 
found in large quantities, but because of a lack of transportation 
facilities is not worked. 

The county is generally underlaid with lignite coal, and in 
some places of a superior quality, analyzing from one to four per 
cent, higher in fixed carbon than any other coal mined in the state. 
The coal veins vary from six to forty feet in thickness. Three 
mines are in operation near Buffalo to supply local demand. As 
soon as railroad transportation can be secured, several new mines 
will be opened. 

This county is, without doubt, one of the best range counties 
in the state. It has one of the finest winter ranges in the west, 
where stock can roam at will, secure from winter storms in the 
shelter afforded by the high hills and deep gulches, while on ac- 
count of the protection given by the location of the Big Horn 
Mountains and its spurs, lying to the west and north, blizzards are 
unknown, and the fall of snow is the least, especially on the head 
of Powder River and its tributaries, of any place in the same lat- 
itude in the United States, with the probable exception of a small 
strip on the Pacific coast. The hills are covered with a thick sod 
of buffalo and other native grasses, and the cattle on the range in 
the central and southern parts of the county keep in as good con- 
dition as many of those in pastures where they have been fed near- 
ly all winter. 

Buffalo, the county seat, has always been a prosperous town, 
and at the present time has a population of 1,700. It is the bus- 



- 


- 


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■— 




u 








^_ 


yj 




kJ 


a> 


— 




A 





View of the Natural Bridge, a wonderful rock formation spanning LaPrele Creek, near 

Douglas, Converse County. Just above this bridge the immense 

dam of LaPrele Irrigation Company is being built. 



JOHNSON COUNTY 33 

iness center of a fine grazing and agricultural district and has supe- 
rior natural advantages. 

Clear Creek could furnish water power for a hundred facto- 
ries, besides irrigating several thousand acres of land. At the 
present time Buffalo is thirty-two miles from the Burlington rail- 
road, but at no distant day expects to have a railroad connection. 
Its citizens have been very enterprising in building up the town, 
having erected a $45,000 school house, four good churches, three 
banks, a $10,000 city hall, with numerous other brick buildings 
and a $40,000 hotel now in the course of construction. Buffalo 
is noted for its excellent gravity water system which affords suffi- 
cient water piped from the mouth of Clear Creek canon to supply 
the general demand for domestic purposes, irrigation of lawns and 
gardens and fire protection. The water supply is sufficient for a 
city of 10,000 people. The city also maintains an electric light 
plant, flouring mill and two newspapers. Two stage lines are 
operated, one leaving daily for Sheridan and the other for Clear- 
mont, the nearest railroad point. The town of Buffalo needs an 
electric railway connection with the Burlington Route, a distance 
of thirty-four miles down Clear Creek, where water power can be 
obtained therefor. 

The Sahara Ditch Company has built a canal to irrigate some 
10,000 acres of fine land in southern Johnson County, which will 
afford homes for a considerable number of prospective settlers. 
The increased number of sheep and cattle being fed each year in 
this county affords a ready market for the sale of all grain and 
forage which can be raised. A private company has secured the 
use of Lake De Smet for an irrigation reservoir and contemplates 
raising the lake level so as to afford sufficient water for the irriga- 
tion of large tracts of land in northern Johnson County and in 
southern and central Sheridan County. 

Here is located the State Soldiers' Home, upon 1,270 acres of 
fertile land. The buildings cost over $100,000. 

This was formerly Fort McKinney, which w T as considered, 
before its abandonment, the healthiest fort in the United States. 

The United States land office for this county is at Buffalo. 



Laramie County 



Laramie County was organized in 1869, and was named after 
Jacques Laramie, a French fur trader, who was killed near the 
mouth of the Laramie River about 1820. The Laramie River, 
2— 



34 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

Laramie Peak, Fort Laramie and Laramie City were named, 
after this pioneer. 

The total number of acres of land listed for taxation is given 
at 1,120,545.32, value $2,068,388.93. The total valuation of all 
assessed property in the county is given at $9,112,415.68. 

This county is located in the southeastern portion of Wyo- 
ming, and comprises an area of 7,000 square miles. It ranks first 
in population and wealth, and was one of the original four coun- 
ties of the Territory of Wyoming. The rolling plains along the 
eastern slope of the Black Hills Range, varying in altitude from 
4,000 to 8,000 feet, are its natural features. These plains are pe- 
culiarly adapted to grazing. In all parts of the county are found 
numerous streams. The total acreage of the county is 4,520,000, 
of which 3,000,000 acres are fine grazing land and 1,000,000 are 
susceptible of being made rich agricultural lands. 

It is full of undeveloped resources ; has iron, coal, copper, gold 
and silver, sandstone, marble, granite, mineral paint and mica. 
The land is generally free from stones and other obstructions, and 
is easily broken and cultivated, and is very fertile. 

Laramie County has passed from a purely pastoral condition 
to one of mixed husbandry. Stock raising, farming, dairying and 
gardening are practiced in varying degrees. The average tem- 
perature is about 60° F.; the rainfall fourteen inches. All field 
crops common to the west succeed well. 

The development through irrigation has not been confined to 
any particular locality. The soil is exceedingly fertile, the water 
reliable and the altitude sufficiently low to warrant the planting 
of any of the ordinary field crops. The creeks are lined, therefore, 
with the farms of ranchmen, who, combining farming and stock 
raising, are prosperous. 

Dry Farming — This county is at present the seat of very con- 
siderable dry farming experiments, under the direction of Wyo- 
ming's Governor. It has been demonstrated that grains and for- 
age can be successfully grown by the natural rainfall under the 
Cooke system of dry farming. The State has secured the services 
of an expert dry farmer, Dr. V. T. Cooke, whose services are ten- 
dered to the incoming settlers in order that they may learn the 
proper method of cultivation in the semi-arid West. A more 
complete description of this method of farming is given elsewhere 
in this pamphlet. Hundreds of homestead entries have been 
made in southeastern Wyoming during the present year, and the 
country is rapidly filling up with eastern farmers, who welcome 
what will probably be the last opportunity which will be offered 
them of securing farming lands under the homestead act. 

Many of the large cattle ranches existing since territorial days 



LARAMIE COUNTY 35 

in this vicinity have been sold and divided into farms. Crow 
Creek, running through Cheyenne, carries sufficient water to irri- 
gate many thousand acres, and the building of reservoirs for the 
preservation of the flood waters is now contemplated, so that, 
within a few years, Cheyenne will be surrounded by both irrigated 
and dry farming farms. 

The Cooke system is an application of common sense 
principles to farming in an arid region, and embraces thorough 
preparation of the soil by deep plowing and frequent harrowing, 
allowing the soil to summer fallow, thereby gaining two years' 
moisture for each crop. Land hitherto considered useless, ex- 
cept for grazing purposes, has been quadrupled in value during 
the last year. 

If seeds adapted to the arid region, developed from dry land 
farming are used, and careful and intelligent methods of cultivation 
pursued, remunerative results are guaranteed. 

County Seat — The City of Cheyenne is the county seat of 
Laramie County and the state capital, and has a population of 
15,000. Owing to the rapid advancement of Cheyenne after the 
settlement in 1867, it gained the title of "The Magic City," and has 
always been noted for the wealth and enterprise of its citizens. The 
city was designated as the capital when Wyoming was organized 
as a territory in 1869. It is 516 miles west of Omaha, on the 
line of the Union Pacific. It is also the junction point of the Colo- 
rado and Southern and the terminus of the Burlington Route. 

Cheyenne has an extensive system of waterworks, the latest 
and most approved sewerage system, fire department and fire 
alarm system, telephone exchange, arc and incandescent electric 
lighted streets, besides gas for general use; has a new opera house 
building which cost $90,000; a $30,000 club house, fine business 
blocks, elegant private residences, three banks, eleven churches, 
two daily newspapers and state capitol costing $300,000. Among 
the other institutions are the federal building and postofnce, cost- 
ing $350,000; Elks' Home, costing $30,000; Masonic Temple, cost- 
ing $50,000; five public school buildings, built at an average cost 
of $30,000; convent school, erected at a cost of over $50,000; a 
county hospital, a county court house and jail, and extensive rail- 
road shops, employing 700 men. The Stock Growers National 
Bank has recently completed a building exclusively for banking 
purposes, costing $55,000, and the First National Bank has erected 
a five story business block at a cost of $100,000. The Catholic 
Cathedral and Bishop's residence, now building, will cost $100,000 
when completed. Andrew Carnegie gave $50,000 for the con- 
struction of a public library, which has been built. The city is the 
supply point for an immense stock raising and agricultural coun- 



36 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

try, and its citizens are among the largest live stock owners in the 
state. 

There are several manufacturing establishments in the city, 
and the volume of business transacted annually amounts to many 
thousands of dollars. A creamery established several years has 
a big business and draws trade from a large section of country. 

In addition to the amusements offered by the Capitol Avenue 
Theatre, which comprise the best attractions traveling in the West, 
during the winter season, and lighter entertainment during the 
summer, there are three popular priced theatres open every after- 
noon and evening except Sunday. 

Fort Russell, distant three miles from the city, is one of the 
largest and most important military posts in the United States. 
Oyer two million dollars have recently been expended in enlarging 
and beautifying the fort, and it has been designated as one of the 
four brigade posts in the country, so that in the near future it will 
have a military force of nearly five thousand troops, including 
cavalry, infantry and artillery. Very beautiful residences and 
barrack buildings have been erected, and a riding school sufficient- 
ly large for the evolutions of a troop of cavalry has been construc- 
ted. It is anticipated that in a short time an electric car line will 
connect the city and fort, thus affording one more point of interest 
to the casual visitor. 

Nowhere can be found more delightful drives. Nature has 
provided roads equal to the smooth gravel roads of Central Park, 
New York. After the heaviest summer rains automobiles can 
travel readily to and from the mountains. 

Cheyenne is one of the oldest cities in the West, and its people 
have made it one of the most attractive residence places in Amer- 
ica. 

Strangers view with delight the miles of smooth stone flagging 
and cement sidewalks that line almost every street in Cheyenne. 
The beauty of many of the streets and avenues is greatly enhanced 
by the bright green turf on either side of the walks, which, together 
with long lines of trees, forms an agreeable feature of the city's 
landscape. 

One of the greatest attractions of the city is its pure and 
healthful climate. Its air is an invigorating tonic, cool in the 
summer, mild in winter. No better summer climate can be found 
in our land. 

The Wheatland Colony — No more important enterprise has 
been undertaken and carried out to successful results in the rec- 
lamation of arid lands than that of the Wheatland Colony by the 
Wyoming Development Company of Cheyenne. Each year since 
1 he initiation of the enterprise the company has done much for the 



LARAMIE COUNTY 37 

betterment of the system. Its great irrigation plant now means 
the successful and ultimate reclamation of fully one hundred thou- 
sand acres. The lands reclaimed and being reclaimed are in the 
northern half of Laramie County, by railroad ninety miles from 
Cheyenne, on either side of the Colorado and Southern railroad. 

In the selection of a locality for an irrigation plant, many 
things should be considered, among which are, a market for the 
agricultural products, the soil, water supply and accessibility to 
timber. The Wheatland Colony has all these advantages. The 
altitude, 4,500 to 4,800 feet, is the happy medium for the cultiva- 
tion of lands with the aid of irrigation. 

The water is taken from the Laramie River, the Sybille and 
Blue Grass Creeks, through three canals. Number one is thirty- 
four miles long, has a width of twenty feet on the bottom and a 
depth of four feet. Canal number two is twenty-two miles long, 
has a depth of three and one-half feet and a width on the bottom 
of twenty-two feet. Canal number three is twelve miles long, 
has a width of fifteen feet on the bottom and a depth of three feet. 
The water is turned from the Laramie River to the head of Blue 
Grass Creek by means of a tunnel. The Blue Grass carries the 
water to Sybille Creek, and from that stream the water is conduct- 
ed by the above mentioned canals across the lands to be irrigated 
by laterals, distributed wherever necessary. To reinforce the 
water supply in case of drouth in any season, water has been 
turned into natural reservoirs. Number one has a shore line of 
eight miles. No more extensive reservoir has yet been found in 
the United States than number two; it is seven miles long, aver- 
aging two and one-half miles in width. Its greatest depth is 
thirty-five feet, and its average depth is eighteen feet. It covers 
6,600 acres, and has a shore line of thirty-five miles. It impounds 
118,800 acre-feet of water. 

A timber supply of sufficient abundance for all domestic pur- 
poses is near at hand. 

The soil is a black loam, well adapted for all small grains 
grown in the temperate zone, alfalfa, clover, potatoes, sugar beets, 
vegetables and some varieties of Indian corn. The experiments 
with growing apples, cherries, plums and all small fruits have been 
satisfactory. That the soil is well adapted for the production of 
wheat, oats, barley, rye, potatoes, turnips, flax, beets, cabbage 
and certain varieties of corn, has been shown by repeated tests 
and experiments. Timothy does exceedingly well, and crops of 
alfalfa produced mark the country as one of the best for growing 
this profitable forage plant. Experiments in growing sugar beets 
have been so successful that doubtless before long a beet sugar 
factory will be established in the colony. Experts of two of the 



38 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

beet sugar companies of the United States have made very favora- 
able reports to their companies on the Wheatland Colony as a 
place for the establishment of a beet sugar plant. 

The school system is of the very best. There are nine good 
schools in the colony. The colony is supplied with rural mail de- 
livery and collection. 

The City of Cheyenne, the towns of Guernsey, Hartville, Wyn- 
cote, Torrington and Sunrise, and the mining and stock raising 
sections afford good markets for everything raised in the colony. 

Sheep and cattle feeding are no longer experimental in the 
colony. It has become a very profitable business. Alfalfa is the 
foundation of successful sheep and lamb feeding. The hog busi- 
ness is proving very profitable around Wheatland. Hog cholera 
is unknown in Wyoming. The climatic conditions are very favor- 
able for stock growing and feeding. 

The thrifty town of W'heatland is in the center of the colony. 
It is on the Colorado and Southern railroad, which connects at 
Cheyenne with the Union Pacific and Burlington systems, at Orin 
Junction with the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley (a part 
of the Northwestern system), and at Hartville Junction with the 
Burlington. 

The town has a population of one thousand, made up of a 
fine class of people, intelligent, hospitable and public spirited. It 
has fine school buildings, three churches — Methodist, Congrega- 
tional and Roman Catholic — a library and a good library building. 
The town is supplied with a telephone exchange, and has long dis- 
tance connections with all the large towns of Wyoming, Colorado, 
Utah and Idaho. There are five general stores, a drug store, two 
livery stables, two hotels, one bank, a harness and saddle manu- 
facturing establishment, two blacksmith and carriage shops, two 
newspapers, five secret orders, a good hall and a modern roller 
mill with a capacity of 125 barrels a day. 

Coal is cheap. Wood is abundant and may be had for sim- 
ply the cutting and hauling. Good native lumber is worth $15 
per thousand, or from $7 to $10 at the mills. Building stone is 
plenty and bricks are made in proximity to the town. 

Wheatland has a good outlook, and is one of the many sec- 
tions of the state that promise good and speedy returns for capital 
invested. The agriculturist who is looking for an ideal farming 
country; cattle and sheep producers who are desirous for the most 
advantageous conditions for stock raising; the business man who 
is seeking the new town full of promise, with a growing surround- 
ing country, and those broken in health who seek a favorable cli- 
mate, will find good openings at V\ heatland. The lands are selling 
rapidly for from $22.50 to &35 per acre. Ten years' time is given, 



LARAMIE COUNTY 39 

with equal annual payments, at six per cent, interest. No pay- 
ment except the interest has to be made the second year, which 
gives the settler an opportunity to pay for his farm even though 
his means be limited. A perpetual water right goes with each 
piece of land, and a purchaser of a Wheatland farm cannot be de- 
prived of an equal water right with every land-holder any more 
than he can be deprived of the land itself. The land and water go 
together. When the lands and water have all been sold, the irri- 
gation works will be absolutely under the control of those holding 
lands in the colony. 

During the winter just passed 25,000 head of sheep were fed 
at Wheatland, all of which, with the exception of about 1,000 head, 
were lambs. They were fed by William Ayers, M. R. Johnston, 
D. M. Southworth, William M. Clark, Albert McElheny, Duncan 
Grant, Shephard Bros., William Nelson and A. M. Axford. With 
the exception of Mr. Ayers and Mr. Johnston, each of whom fed 
5,000 head, they were fed in small bunches, but all were fed by 
men on their own lands; all of whom produced a part of the hay 
required for the feeding. There were 5,000 tons of hay fed and 
fifty car loads, or 2,500,000 pounds, of corn fed. 

The feeding was very profitable, as the net profits were from 
$1 to $2.50 per head. The ruling price for the alfalfa hay in the 
stack is from $3.50 to $4.50 per ton. There was left over a surplus 
of hay that would have fed as many more sheep. Owing to the 
increased acreage of alfalfa to be harvested this season, the Wheat- 
land Colony will be in position to feed and fatten 75,000 lambs dur- 
ing the coming winter. 

The sheep feeding conditions are most favorable at Wheat- 
land. 

Guernsey — The new town of Guernsey, which is the natural 
railroad and business center of the iron region known as the Hart- 
ville Iron Range, and described elsewhere in this book under Min- 
eral Resources, is located at the base of the Iron Range in the Val- 
ley of the Platte River. It is beautifully situated below the mouth 
of the Grand Canon in a broad sweep of intervale in a bend of the 
river. With the development of the mining and stock industries 
and railroad building, with which its interests are identified, and 
from which it sprang into existence, its future growth is assured. 

Its location marks it as one of the coming industrial cities of 
Wyoming. It already has two railroads, and with the western 
extensions of the Burlington, will become a division headquarters 
on its continental system, and will have connection with the min- 
ing camps, not only of the Hartville Range, but those of Halleck 
Canon, Plumbago Canon, Squaw Mountain, Horse Shoe Park, 
North Laramie and the Peak Range. North of Guernsey are the 



40 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

mining camps of Whalen Canon, Wildcat, Muskrat and Rawhide 
Buttes, which will be reached by a spur on the eastern slope of the 
mountains. 

The establishment of industrial enterprises at Guernsey is to 
be promoted by the building of a big dam at the mouth of the 
canon, where the immense volume of the Platte River water will 
be utilized for electric light, power and water systems second to 
none in the West. The electric power generated here will not only 
furnish light, but will in time operate all the mines of the range, 
while the water supply will irrigate thousands of acres of land 
along the valley, as well as provide an admirable water system 
for the City of Guernsey, with its mills, smelters and workshops, 
at a small expense. 

Sunrise is the headquarters of the Colorado Fuel and Iron 
Company's mines. Development work on some of the mining 
claims at Sunrise and Hartville shows indications of good gold val- 
ues, and a gold mining district may be developed. 

From Fort Laramie to the Nebraska line extends the govern- 
ment canal, known as the Interstate Canal, an enlargement of the 
Whalen Falls Canal of the North Platte Canal and Colonization 
Company. This company still secures its water through the gov- 
ernment canal, and furnishes water to nearly twenty thousand 
acres of land on the north and east sides of the Platte River. 

A few valuable homesteads are still open, and perpetual wa- 
ter rights are being sold for $30.00 an acre. By reason of its low 
altitude and nearness to the eastern stock markets, this will be one 
of the most prosperous portions of the state. (See article on 
Lands.) 

The United States land office for this county is located at 
Cheyenne. 



Natrona County 



Natrona County was organized in 1888. It derives its name 
from the natural deposits of natron, or, carbonate of soda, found in 
the numerous basins or lakes that abound in that section of Wy- 
oming. Located in almost the geographical center of the state, 
it covers an area of about seventy miles square. The Platte Riv- 
er, with its numerous tributaries traversing its entire length, a 
distance of seventy-five miles from east to west, furnishes an 



NATRONA COUNTY 41 

abundant supply of water for irrigation, and as the mean eleva- 
tion is 5,500 feet, the farmers of the county can raise all the hardy 
grains, vegetables and fruit common to the northwestern states. 

At the present time the live stock interest leads all other in- 
dustries in this county. The branch of the great Northwestern 
R. R. system affords an outlet to eastern markets. 

The assessed valuation of Natrona County in 1907 is given at 
$3,445,660 . 88. The lands listed for taxation are given at 107,939 
acres, valued at $417,785.00. 

The raising of stock now overshadows all other industries 
in this county. The fleece of a Natrona County sheep will average 
seven pounds, and the total wool clip for 1907 approximates four 
million pounds. The number of sheep is given at 538,876 head, 
valued at $1,396,354. Cattle are returned at 24,274 head, worth 
$334,167.00; and 4,636 horses, valued at $117,704.00. 

But it is the undeveloped resources of Natrona County that 
offer the greatest inducements for the investment of capital. Al- 
ready the oil industry has reached an important stage of develop- 
ment. (See article on Oil.) 

Steam coal exists in Natrona County. Lignite coal, varying 
from a few inches to several feet in thickness, is found in various 
parts of the county. The inexhaustible deposits of sulphate and 
carbonate of soda, which are formed from natural springs, will 
some day be the basis of a great and profitable industry, and only 
await the magic touch of capital and skill to develop their greatest 
possibilities. 

Among the natural wonders of Natrona County are the Alcova 
Hot Springs, which possess medicinal virtues for the treatment of 
rheumatism and kindred diseases. These springs are located on 
the North Platte River, in the mountains, and are surrounded 
with beautiful scenery. Considerable development has been made 
in the mining of precious metals. Deposits of gold and silver ore 
are found in the mountains. Low grade ores, which assay from 
five to ten dollars a ton, are abundant, and in time can be profit- 
ably mined. Coal, copper, iron and valuable building stone are 
found in various localities. The best developed copper claims in 
Casper Mountain assay from 37 to 40 per cent, copper. Asbestos 
is also found. 

Casper, the county seat of Natrona County, is a thriving town 
of 1,500 to 2,000 inhabitants, located at the junction of the Fre- 
mont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley railroad with the Wyoming 
and Northwestern railroad. Its fine business blocks, churches and 
school houses attest the liberality of the people. Among the re- 
cent improvements are the court house, fine waterworks and a 
steam plant for shearing sheep. There are about 7,000 acres of 



42 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

land irrigated, while there are 50,000 acres susceptible of irrigation 
and 3,700,000 acres of pasture lands. 

The United States Government is constructing an immense 
dam above Alcova, turning the Grand Canon of the Platte into a 
storage reservoir and affording water for reclamation of arid lands. 
(See article on North Platte project.) 

The United States land office for this county is located at 
Douglas. 



Sheridan County 



On the eastern slope of the Big Horn Mountains and protected 
by its towering peaks, lies a portion of Wyoming, designated as 
Sheridan County. 

Favored by nature, it was almost the last battleground of 
the Indians before they were placed in their reservations. Watered 
by numerous mountain streams fed by the eternal snows of the 
Big Horn Range, it has gained a wide reputation for its salubrious 
climate, productive fields and live stock interests, as well as for 
its exhaustless beds of high grade lignite coal which furnish cheap 
fuel for domestic and manufacturing purposes. 

Sheridan County was organized in 1888, and named for Gen- 
eral Phil Sheridan, who camped on the site of the present city with 
his command in August, 1881. 

Agricultural Resources and Development — Almost the first 
question asked by the average homeseeker, when investigating 
a new country, is as to its agricultural development and possibili- 
ties. Oil and gas wells may become exhausted, veins of precious 
metal may pinch out, factories may close down, but the community 
whose stability is based upon agriculture has a sure and enduring 
foundation. In this respect Sheridan County takes rank among 
the foremost agricultural regions of the West, with only a part of 
her agricultural resources developed as yet. There are approxi- 
mately fifty thousand acres of Sheridan County irrigated lands 
under cultivation in hay, grain and vegetables, the greater portion 
of which annually produces from three to five tons of hay per acre. 
The balance is devoted to the raising of wheat, oats, barley, rye, 



SHERIDAN COUNTY 43 

corn, vegetables, etc. The average yield of wheat per acre is in 
the neighborhood of forty bushels, which, under most favorable 
circumstances, is frequently increased to fifty and sixty bushels 
per acre. In this altitude and climate, and under the magnetic 
influence of irrigation, wheat always fills well, and weighs all the 
way from sixty to seventy pounds to the measured bushel. The 
best varieties of hard milling wheat are raised almost exclusively, 
and winter wheat is rapidly supplanting the spring varieties 
heretofore grown. Oats are also grown extensively, and the quan- 
tity and quality are far superior to that of almost any other region. 
The yield runs from forty to eighty bushels per acre, and in some 
instances it has been as high as one hundred and thirty-one bushels 
per acre. The weight per measured bushel is always in excess of 
the standard, often reaching forty pounds or more. While corn 
is not considered a staple crop here, there are many acres planted 
every year in the early varieties, and much of it matures fully. In 
the production of potatoes and all ordinary varieties of garden 
vegetables Sheridan County is not excelled anywhere. The qual- 
ity of the potatoes grown here is equal to those of the famous 
Greeley country in northern Colorado. 

Sheridan County potatoes have gained a wide reputation for 
their excellent qualities by reason of their extensive use in the 
Burlington Railway eating houses, and on the dining cars which 
run over the entire Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system. 

Irrigation — The demand for farming lands and the value of 
irrigated farms in this district has encouraged capitalists to engage 
in the conservation of the flood waters of the streams whose ordi- 
ary flow is already appropriated by the ranchmen in the valleys. 
During the season of 1907 two reservoirs were built at Dome Lake 
to supply water to 4,000 acres of land tributary to Big Goose and 
Soldier Creeks. The Big Horn Reservoir now being constructed 
will furnish water for the lands south of Sheridan. The Willow, 
Weston, Twin Lake, Big Goose, Park, Piney, Kearney Lake, Lake 
De Smet and other reservoirs under construction will store water 
sufficient to irrigate 140,000 acres of land, which is more than is 
under irrigation in northern Colorado. 

Dry Farming — As there has been an abundance of irrigable 
land, Sheridan County farmers have not taken much interest in 
dry farming until recently, but there are thousands of acres sus- 
ceptible of cultivation by this method, and lands within three or 
four miles of Sheridan are being homesteaded for this purpose. 
Sheridan County has had an average rain fall of 14^ inches for the 
past 11 years, which was considerably exceeded in 1907. Some 
of the best agricultural exhibits shown at the 1907 Sheridan County 
Fair were raised without irrigation. 



44 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

Coal — It is known from the widely divergent points at which 
coal is now being profitably mined that the larger portion of Sher- 
idan County is underlaid with veins of high grade lignite coal from 
8 to 32 feet in thickness. This is a hard close grained coal with no 
sulphur and making little ash, a splendid domestic coal and award- 
ed the first premium at the World's Fair in Chicago for its steaming 
qualities. The Sheridan Coal fields represent an investment of 
oyer $3,000,000 in development, and the coal mining towns of 
Dietz, Kearney, Monarch, Kooi and Riverside, from 4 to 12 
miles from Sheridan along the Burlington System, supply the 
wholesale trade. In addition a half dozen local mines from which 
coal is hauled by wagons supply the Sheridan market and adjacent 
country trade. The price is $1.25 per wagon load at the mines, 
or $3 . 50 per ton delivered at Sheridan. The total output of the 
Sheridan mines aggregates one and one-half million tons, and 
about 5,000 men are employed, and their demands afford a market 
for grain, hay, meat, vegetables, butter and eggs and distribute 
monthly thousands of dollars to the ranchmen and market garden- 
ers, in addition to the sum spent for general merchandise. It is 
safe to predict a steady increase in coal productions and conse- 
quently increased revenue from this valuable asset. 

Assessed Valuation of Sheridan County — The assessed valu- 
ation of Sheridan County for 1907 was $5,241,933. 18, representing 
an actual valuation of over $15,000,000. The bonded indebted- 
ness is but $65,000, of which $45,000 represents a magnificent 
court house. 

Opportunities for Investment — The Sheridan country holds 
out particularly favorable inducements to the investor with either 
large or small means. There are still many undeveloped natural 
resources here, awaiting the attention of those familiar with the 
practical side of these various industries. What promises to be 
one of the best investments for large capital would be the estab- 
lishment of a large light and power plant in connection with an 
electric railway. An abundance of water power furnished by the 
mountain streams would supply unlimited power, while an aux- 
iliary plant stationed near one of the large coal mines could burn 
slack — to be had for almost the cost of handling. \fy ith Sheridan's 
population of 10,000, steadily growing; between three and four 
thousand at the various mining camps, all within a radius of a 
dozen miles, exclusive of the officers and men at Fort McKenzie, 
three miles distant, an electric system would receive generous 
patronage from the start. In addition, trolley lines up the Big 
and Little Goose Creek valleys to the various mountain resorts, 
and tapping the rich agricultural districts, offer attractive passen- 
ger and freight traffic. 



SHERIDAN COUNTY 45 

Another promising field for the large investor is the Portland 
cement beds lying within a few miles of Sheridan. One govern- 
ment report s,ays the records of the department do not show as 
large a body of all the necessary ingredients so closely placed as in 
the Sheridan field. These immense deposits, taken with an abun- 
dance of water power and the cheapest fuel in the United States. 
must soon claim the attention of capital. 

There are still many undeveloped coal properties in the Sher- 
idan fields, offering profitable investment. This coal is said to be 
the most cheaply mined coal in the United States. 

The Sheridan country possesses several very fine grades of the 
best building stone, in inexhaustible quantities, lime rock suitable 
for commercial purposes and fire brick clay of the very best. These 
all offer profitable fields for the investor, and are as yet practically 
undeveloped. 

There are still many acres of irrigated lands in Sheridan Coun- 
ty, well improved, with good water rights, and within a reasonable 
distance from this city, selling from $30 an acre up. The estab- 
lishment of a beet sugar factory at Sheridan would increase the 
value of these lands more than double, and conditions would soon 
obtain here as do now in the sugar communities of northern 
Colorado, where land sells as high as $300 an acre. 

The Burlington Railroad will allow stopovers at Sheridan on 
all tickets over this line. To the homeseeker in search of a new 
location, Sheridan County offers well improved ranches at a very 
moderate price, and there is still a large amount of free government 
land within reach of irrigation. To the investor the Sheridan 
country holds out unusual inducements in many lines, while several 
undeveloped natural resources requiring large capital promise large 
returns. 

The Gty of Sheridan — Located at the junction of the Big 
and Little Goose Creeks and within the sheltering confines of the 
Big Horn Mountains, Sheridan, the county seat, possesses a maxi- 
mum of advantages and a minimum of disadvantages. 

The climate is favorable for the growing of shade and fruit 
trees and the cultivation of small fruits and truck gardens. With 
an altitude of but 3700 feet and with the everlasting snow-capped 
mountains towering above the valley and only -thirty miles away 
the air is invigorating and health giving. 

Commercially Sheridan is the gateway between the plains to 
the south and east and the great northwest, and with its inex- 
haustible supply of cheap fuel and tremendous water power will 
undoubtedly become a manufacturing center and important dis- 
tributing point. 

The history of Sheridan shows that since the erection of the 



46 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

first log cabin in 1878 there has been a steady and healthy growth. 
The U. S. census for 1890 gave Sheridan a population of 1500. 
The state census of 1905 gave a population of 4937. An estimate 
based upon the number of children of school age and a city direc- 
tory recently compiled places the population of Sheridan at the 
present time at 10,000. 

The social and educational advantages are equal to those of 
any eastern town of like population. The leading branches of 
the Protestant and Catholic churches are represented, the principal 
fraternal orders have thriving lodges and the educational advan- 
tages are the best. Several thousand dollars are expended each 
year in the erection of additional school buildings. The year 1908 
will witness the beginning of a splendid high school building. 

Sheridan has a Carnegie library, a General State Hospital, 
costing $50,000, a Government Weather bureau, costing $40,000 
and the appropriation has been made by Congress and the site 
purchased for a $160,000 court house and post office in Sheridan. 
More than a million dollars has already been expended at Fort 
McKenzie, three miles from the city, in the erection of modern 
brick officers' quarters, company barracks, regimental headquar- 
ters, a hospital and other buildings necessary for a modern army 
post. 

Sheridan owns its municipal water system and gets its supply 
through pipes from the headwaters of the mountain stream adja- 
cent. 

Three extensive systems supply the city, Fort McKenzie and 
the Burlington Railroad shops, each having its independent pipe 
line under gravity pressure. The Government expended $130,000 
in laying its pipe line. The City of Sheridan has just issued 
$250,000 additional bonds for the purpose of laying an additional 
pipe line and increasing its water system to meet the requirements 
of a city of 25,000 inhabitants. 

Few, if any, western cities the size of Sheridan can boast of 
as large a cash monthly payroll. At this writing there is disbursed 
among the miners, mechanics, railroad men and the soldiers at 
Fort McKenzie, more than a half million dollars in cash every 
month of the year. 

The Big Game Country — At no point in the state, within as 
easy reach of the railroad, is big game still to be found in abun- 
dance as in the Sheridan country. The big game country begins 
within twenty miles of the city, and the Big Horn Range abounds 
in delightful sport for the hunter. Not only big game but small 
game in abundance is to be found in almost every part of the 
Sheridan country. Hunting parties outfitting from Sheridan can 
secure experienced guides to lead them into the game haunts, and 



SWEETWATER COUNTY 47 

their nearness to the city makes it possible for the camp to be 
located within a few miles of a rural telephone line, affording 
constant communication with the outside world while enjoying the 
delights of this sport. 

No other county in the state possesses as many excellent trout 
streams as Sheridan. Tongue River, Big and Little Goose creeks 
and their tributaries, all abound in mountain trout, while numer- 
ous mountain lakes, scattered over the Big Horn Range, make the 
Sheridan country the fisherman's paradise. A state fish hatchery 
located here insures the proper stocking of all streams each year, 
and in spite of the rapidly increasing numbers of fishing parties, the 
speckled beauties seem to be as plentiful as ever. 



Sweetwater County 



This was originally called Carter Count}-, after a pioneer. 
Judge Carter, when a part of Dakota, but upon the organization 
of the Territory of Wyoming, in 1869, the name was changed to 
Sweetwater, after the Sweetwater River, which was so named bv 
General Ashley in 1823. 

The chief industries are coal mining and stock raising. 

The total valuation of property in this county in 1907 is given 
at $6,862,456.03. The lands listed for taxation are returned at 
1,690,997 acres, valued at $584,417.03. 

Green River, the county seat of Sweetwater County, has a 
population of about 1,200, and is essentially a railroad town, being 
a division point on the Union Pacific. Extensive repair shops are 
operated here by the railroad company. The surrounding country 
is devoted largely to the grazing of sheep and other live stock. A 
system of waterworks has been constructed at a cost of nearly half 
a million dollars, for the purpose of pumping water from Green 
River to Rock Springs, a distance of eighteen miles, where exten- 
sive coal mining operations are carried on by the Union Pacific. 
Large quantities of ice are annually stored at Green River, and 
during the summer season between four and five hundred thousand 
railroad ties and mine props are floated down the river and dis- 
tributed at this point. A saw mill is maintained for the manu- 
facture of rough lumber. 

The most promising industry in Green River at the present 
time is the production of sal soda, which is likely to assume vast 
proportions in a short time. Several wells have been sunk on the 



48 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

bottoms of Green River, that yield an inexhaustible supply of 
water containing an average of twenty-five per cent, of soda crys- 
tals, or, in other words, twenty-five pounds of sal soda to every one 
hundred pounds of water. The development of this industry at 
first was very much retarded by the failure to secure freight rates 
that would enable the chemical company to place their product 
on the market. Rates have been obtained that enable this pro- 
duct to compete at Missouri River points and on the Pacific coast. 
Wyoming sal soda is superior to that manufactured from salt, and 
has been given the preference wherever installed. 

A very beautiful Carnegie Library, costing $25,000, has just 
been completed and is stocked with an ample supply of literature, 
offering an opportunity for rest and recreation seldom found in 
moderate sized towns. 

Rock Springs — Eighteen miles distant on the line of the Union 
Pacific is located the town of Rock Springs. Here are operated 
the largest coal mines in the state. It has a population of 5,000, 
composed very largely of miners, and is one of the most active 
business points in Wyoming. It is well built, having fine business 
blocks, a water system, electric light plant and a magnificent 
$25,000 city hall. At this point is located the Wyoming General 
Hospital, maintained by the state. 

The citizenship of Rock Springs is cosmopolitan. Twenty- 
five languages are spoken, and almost every important country 
on the face of the earth is represented. 

Rock Springs is a great wholesaling point. Here are found 
some of the greatest stocks of merchandise in the state, and the 
merchants push their trade into the mining districts of Central 
Wyoming and the cattle and sheep country lying in all directions 
from this enterprising market. 

Industries — The county is well suited to sheep raising, and 
many citizens are so engaged. The broken and diversified char- 
acter of the country, covered as it is with white sage and nutritious 
grasses, furnishes just the conditions conducive to the successful 
management of that class of live stock, 1,697,290 head being run 
upon the plains. 

The entire county is underlaid with veins of coal, which, how- 
ever, have been more extensively developed at Rock Springs than 
elsewhere, and the term Rock Springs coal is synonymous through- 
out the west with coal of exceptional quality. The output is 
2,000,000 tons per annum. 

There are vast areas of undeveloped coal lands in the county, 
principally to the north of the railroad, much of which on being 
prospected shows excellent coal in veins from three to twelve feet 
thick. 



UINTA COUNTY 49 

The Red Desert, lying in the eastern half of Sweetwater Coun- 
ty and the western portion of Carbon County, in recent years has 
proved of great worth as the winter range of many thousands of 
sheep. There are no streams to provide water for sheep in sum- 
mer, but just as soon as the winter snows arrive the sheep thrive 
thereon wonderfully well and the desert is transformed into a 
scene of animation. This range, aside from the railroad lands, is 
without charge to the flockmaster. 

The farmers on the lands of the Eden Irrigation and Land 
Companjr, which lie in the northern part of the county, will find 
ready markets for all their produce in the mining towns of Rock 
Springs and Superior, as well as at Green River and other towns 
along the Union Pacific Railroad. Farm products in all these 
western mining towns always command top prices and find ready 
sale. 

The United States land office for this county is located at Ev- 
anston, except for a few townships in the eastern portion of the 
county, which are in the Cheyenne land office district. 



Uinta County 



Uinta County was organized in 1869, and was named for the 
Uintah Indians. It lies in the extreme western portion of the 
state and extends from the northern boundary of Utah to the 
southern boundary of the Yellowstone National Park. It covers 
over 15,000 square miles, and much of this vast area is unentered 
government land. The Union Pacific railroad crosses the county 
in its southern portion, and the Oregon Short Line in the south 
central portion. The elevation ranges from 5,000 to 8,000 feet. 

Topography — The county is characterized by a charming 
alternation of wooded hill and arable valley, of rolling upland pas- 
turage and well drained meadow. Some parts of the county are 
very mountainous, but broad extents of valleys and plateaus blend 
with the hills in charming and picturesque beauty. The moun- 
tains are cut by a number of swift rivers running through deep 
canons, and the valleys are threaded by the numerous forks and 
tributaries of these rivers. Fair lakes are embosomed in the hills 
and feed great rivers and streams. 

Streams- — The rivers of the county are the Bear, Green, Salt 
and Snake. The principal tributaries of Bear River are Black's 
Fork, Twin Creek and Smith's Fork. Those of the Green are 



50 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

Horse, Cottonwood, the three Piney Creeks, LaBarge, Fontenelle 
and Henry's Fork Creeks. Those of the Snake are Buffalo Fork, 
Gros Ventre and Hoback's Rivers from the eastward, and John 
Day's and Salt Rivers from the south. 

Besides the lakes and rivers, there are about forty named 
creeks of considerable size traversing the surface of the county. 

The total valuation of Uinta County is returned for taxation 
at $7,613,916. Land returned is 1,018,316 acres, valued at 
$1,301,350. The number of cattle is given at 45,119 head, valued 
at $648,660; horses, 7,755 head, valued at $237,393; sheep, 327,019 
head, valued at $819,305. 

The population of the county is given at 14,492, census of 
1905. 

Principal Towns — The county seat is Evanston; population 
in 1905, 2,110. It is pleasantly situated in the Bear River valley; it 
has many natural advantages, and is one of the most progressive 
and attractive towns in the state. It is the home of prosperous 
merchants, cattlemen and sheepmen. Union Pacific shops are loca- 
ted here, and there are two banks, two newspapers, five churches, 
commodious brick school house, large court house and jail, elec- 
tric light plant, water works and three hotels. The State Insane 
Asylum is situated here and also the United States land office for 
Evanston district. Diamondville, Kemmerer, Cokeville and Cum- 
berland are the principal towns on the Oregon Short Line, and are 
large coal producers. The coal of Uinta county is but slightly 
exposed, being largely covered by the tertiary; and it is only where 
recent erosion has occurred that the coal outcrops. Owing to 
this fact, it may be many years before the full extent of the coal 
lands of Uinta County is thoroughly known. The output is ex- 
tensively used by the smelters of Montana, the railroads of Utah, 
Idaho, Oregon, California and Nebraska, for which purposes it is 
admirably suited. 

Star Valley, a fine agricultural section, 125 miles distant from 
the county seat, is traversed by Salt River, Cottonwood Creek, 
mountain streams and many large canals and laterals. The pop- 
ulation is about 3,000. The people, mostly Mormons, are thrifty 
and prosperous. They raise timothy and alfalfa, hay, oats, bar- 
ley and winter wheat, large crops of potatoes and garden truck, 
and in agricultural wealth and splendid ranges for cattle, rival the 
people of the southern end of the countj^. In this beautiful valley 
several creameries have been established, and their products have 
become famous throughout the west. They not only supply the 
local demand, but ship butter and cheese to Butte, Anaconda,. 
Helena and the cities and towns of Oregon and Washington. 

There are many thousand acres of good agricultural land open 



UINTA COUNTY 51 

for settlement under the homestead and desert entry laws of the 
United States. This land is admirably adapted for the cultiva- 
tion of hay and small grain crops, and there is an abundance of 
water for irrigation purposes. Settlers would be welcomed, and 
there are good opportunities for those who have a little capital, 
as good land already brought under cultivation can be purchased 
for from four to ten dollars per acre. School, road and mail facil- 
ities are already well established, and railroad communication is 
easy of access. 

This county has developed wonderful oil fields. (See article 
on Oil.) 

The famous Jackson Hole and Jackson Lake lie in the north- 
ern part of the county, south of the Yellowstone National Park. 
Jackson Hole was named in 1828 after David E. Jackson, a wealthy 
partner of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. Jackson Hole is 
an extensive valley of fertile land and some good farms, and is 
traversed by Snake River and numerous creeks. Prior to 1871 
Jackson Hole was practically unknown to others than the hardy 
trapper and prospector, and it was not then supposed that this 
great valley would one day become an important part of the body 
politic of the State of Wyoming, and that magnificent farms and 
homes would cover its fertile expanse, or the range of the wild 
game, in its last retreat before the perpetual blow of the advance 
of civilization. The soil of Jackson Hole is a rich sandy loam, and 
while the principal crops produced are native hay and the tame 
grasses, vegetables and small fruits mature and are raised in suffi- 
cient quantities to supply all local demand. All kinds of cereals 
will mature, and while the approximate elevation of the valley is 
6,200 feet above sea level, the surrounding mountains protect it 
from the killing winds and insure its becoming one of the future 
agricultural districts of the state. The stock interests consist 
entirely of cattle and horses. Owing to the location and conditions 
surrounding it, the valley is not a good place for sheep. Stock is 
generally fed and sheltered during the more inclement part of the 
winter. Hay in great quantities is raised and is worth from $2.50 
to $3.50 per ton. A ton of hay will feed each head of grown stock. 
Ranchmen following the cattle business have without exception 
become well-to-do, building large irrigation canals, comfortable 
residences and large barns for the shelter of their stock. Im- 
provement is everywhere evident, and for a new community Jack- 
son Hole has as many valuable ranch improvements as any other 
new community in the state. 

Prospects have been found that indicate that there is mineral 
in the vicinity of this valley. Since 1860 the bars on the Snake 
River have been worked for placer gold, and good wages can be 



52 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

and are now obtained by sluicing or rocking the gravel. Where 
the gold comes from has never been determined; that it is there 
is beyond question. Coal beds of vast dimensions and superior 
quality lie on the east side of the Gros Ventre River. (See article 
on Game and Fish.) 

Soil — The soil is of three distinct classes: First, the bottom or 
meadow lands, usually possessing a rich, black and somewhat 
heavy soil, lying next to the streams, always easily irrigated, and 
on that account generally the most desired by settlers; second, the 
bench lands, rising terrace like toward the neighboring hills, pos- 
sessing as a soil a warm, sandy loam, always easily drained, usually 
presenting no great obstacle to irrigation, and now being generally 
recognized as the soil capable of the widest range of production; 
third, the high bluff lands, watered by numerous streams, usually 
too sandy for cultivation, but naturally affording the most ample 
and nutritious pasturage for horses, cattle and sheep. 

Climate — The winters are not severe, and the summers are 
always temperate. Clear, frosty days, with an occasional excep- 
tionally cold night; usually severe weather in March; some very 
warm days in summer, but always cool and reviving breezes in 
the night. 

Agriculture — The production of timothy and wild hay, al- 
falfa, oats, potatoes, winter wheat, and in some sections barley, 
occupies the attention of Uinta County farmers. Possessing a soil 
singularly fertile and lasting, this county offers exceptional in- 
ducements to the agriculturist, with the assurance that the waters 
will never fail, that his crops will never be blighted by drought, 
and abundant harvest will surely follow seed time. 

Timber — Throughout the county timber is abundant on the 
hill sides for lumber, fuel and mining purposes. Yellow and white 
pine, some cedar and spruce, cottonwood and aspen, are the prin- 
cipal growths. Saw mills are in operation in many portions of the 
county, and much lumber is produced. 

The United States land office for this county is at Evanston. 



Weston County 



Weston County was organized in 1890, and was named after 
a gentleman of that name, who was interested in building the Bur- 
lington railroad through that section of the state. It is 100 miles 



WESTON COUNTY 53 

long by forty-eight miles wide, comprising 3,133,440 acres, and 
has a population of 3,604 (census of 1 905). 

The total assessed valuation of all kinds of property in 1907 
was $2,227,398 . 55. Land listed for taxation is given at 110,060.85 
acres, valued at $342,004.20; cattle, 30,212 head, valued at 
$424,436; horses, 5,355 head, valued at $115,149; sheep, 179,825 
head, valued at $470,062. 

Weston County, although enjoying an altitude between 4,000 
and 5,000 feet above the sea level and possessing good soils, is not 
so well watered as other sections of the state, owing to the absence 
of large streams having their sources in the lofty mountains of 
the snowy ranges. The rainfall, however, is considerably greater 
than at a higher altitude, averaging from eighteen to twenty inches 
per annum. The dark, loamy soils, in part of the county, are 
quite productive without irrigation, and the reddish gypsum soils 
found at the base of table lands retain the moisture and are very 
fertile. Precipitation is mainly in the spring and early summer, 
and crops make rapid progress from germination to maturity. 
Wild fruits of the smaller varieties, such as plums, gooseberries, 
currants and strawberries, grow plentifully. All the farm pro- 
ducts known in the northern latitudes are produced in this region, 
even Indian corn, and the yield is most excellent. Wheat of the 
spring varieties yields over fifty bushels, rye over forty, oats sev- 
enty to even one hundred bushels, and corn, of the flint, dent and 
squaw varieties, also makes good returns. Timothy, alfalfa, red 
clover and other tame grasses are cultivated with success, as are 
also potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, carrots and sugar beets, the last 
named producing as high as six tons per acre, with twenty per 
cent, of sugar, as shown by analysis. Stock growing makes an 
excellent accompaniment of farming throughout this region. 
Shorthorn, Hereford, Sussex and West Highlands cattle find favor 
for the range. Horses also receive much attention and are in- 
creasing in value. There is good pine timber in the Black Hills, 
and numerous saw mills supply the wants of the settler. Gypsum 
is found in inexhaustible quantities, and superior quality of build- 
ing stone, granite and lime. Salt producing springs have been 
discovered near Jenney's Stockade, and an oil district in the same 
locality covers over 400 square miles. (See article on Oil.) West- 
on county is famous for its coal, which finds a ready market in the 
adjoining states of South Dakota and Nebraska, and along the 
line of the Burlington railroad, which traverses the entire length 
of the county, east and west. 

Newcastle, the county seat, is a thriving town. The first 
building was erected in September, 1889, the Burlington railroad 
having reached that point in the previous month. After the dis- 



54 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

covery of coal the population grew very rapidly, and is now about 
1500 to 2000. In 1890 extensive waterworks were constructed at 
a cost of over $100,000 by the Cambria Mining Company, which 
furnish an abundant supply of water for Newcastle, Cambria and 
the great coal mines. A $6,000 town hall and $12,000 school 
building have been erected. Within the immediate vicinity are 
several oil wells, the first discovery being made fifteen years ago. 
Salt wells have been opened in the vicinity of Newcastle, and 
promise to develop into a large and profitable industry. All lines 
of business are well represented and prosperous, among which is 
a flouring mill erected to mill the wheat raised on the numerous 
farms of the county. 

Cambria is a coal mining town, the population being actively 
engaged in that industry. The quality of coal mined is excellent, 
and is described elsewhere in this publication. Modern equipment 
and methods are the characteristics of the mining plant. The 
coal here is of a coking quality, and coke ovens are in operation. 
The population of the Cambria district is about 1,000. 

The State of Wyoming and the Experiment Station of the 
United States are conducting agricultural experiments near New- 
castle. Much of the land in eastern Weston County can be farmed 
without irrigation. Wherever water can be secured crops which 
cannot be grown without an ample water supply can be raised, 
while by saving the proper seeds the dry farmer can be successful 
even under ordinary farming methods, and it is seldom that a full 
crop is not raised. 

In locating a farm it is necessary that the experiments of 
present residents should be considered, as not every tract of ground 
can be successfully farmed, some of them being too exposed for 
maturing grain. 

The United States land office for this county is located at 
Sundance. 



The Yellowstone National Park 



If all the other resources of Wyoming could fail, it would still 
be known to the world through the Yellowstone National Park. 

The park was discovered by John Colter in 1807, but its final 
disclosure to the world was the work of three exploring parties in 
the years 1869, 1870 and 1871. It was finally reserved as a na- 
tional park by act of Congress in 1872. It lies in the northwest 



THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 55 

corner of Wyoming; is sixty-two miles long by fifty-four wide. Its 
government and control is under the special authority of the fed- 
eral government. 

The scenery of the park is not equalled by anything in the 
world. It is too grand, its scope too immense, its details too va- 
ried and minute, to admit of even an attempt at its description 
within these pages, for nearly every form, animate or inanimate, 
in dream or fancy, ever seen or conjured by the imagination, may 
here be seen. Its colors and blended tints baffle the artist's brush, 
and language is inadequate for its portrayal. It is here in this 
vast solitude that one stands in silent awe and hears the deep dia- 
pason of nature's mightiest and most mysterious anthem as it 
swells in thunder tones or sinks into sweetest, softest melodies. 
Here, too, is found much that is chastely beautiful, hidden away 
in some dim-lighted alcove or bower, while all about is the grim- 
visaged and towering strength of the silent mountain sentinel. The 
eye is never weary, for the scene is ever shifting, ever becoming 
more and more grand, imposing and impressive. 

Placed as it is upon the very apex of the continent, its sea- 
sons are "July, August and Winter." In the summer, July and 
August, the long-imprisoned vegetation bursts into full life and 
beauty, and in this short period occur the changes which require 
months in lower altitudes. The average snowfall, from Novem- 
ber to April, is ten feet. 

The tourist season lasts from June until October, and nowhere 
can be found a more delightful summer climate. Every year 
shows an increase of tourist travel to this region, which the gov- 
ernment so wisely controls and protects for the enjoyment of the 
public. The park can be reached by wagon routes, which make 
very pleasant camping trips through beautiful and diversified 
scenic country. 

The Cody Gateway of the Burlington Route is the most pic- 
turesque route, over a splendid new road that has been built by 
the government to the park. The trip is fifty miles long and may 
be made on the famous tally-ho coaches managed by Buffalo Bill 
(Colonel Cody), and tourists may stop over en route at Colonel 
Cody's famous hotels, make side trips into Jackson Hole, famous 
for its scenery, fishing or hunting, or stop midway and rest or fish. 

The scenery on this route is alone worth the trip and fully 
equals, if it does not surpass, any similar road in the celebrated 
Alps. Guides and camping outfits may be obtained at Cody and 
the trip varied at will, as one has time at one's disposal, and makes 
a delightful method of spending a vacation or seeing the park. 

The completion of the Wyoming an„d Northwestern railroad 
from Casper to Lander, Wyoming, has added another delightful 



56 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

route to the many into the park for those who wish to make a 
more extended camping trip amid the grandest scenery of the 
North American Continent. Outfitting at Lander the tourist has 
a choice of routes, depending upon the length of time at his dispo- 
sal, but the usual route is by way of Fort Washakie, fifteen miles 
distant from Lander, on the Shoshone Indian Reservation, to 
Jackson Lake, directly south of the park. 

From this point a good road connects with the belt line at 
Yellowstone Lake. The traveler taking this route passes within 
the shadow of the Grand Teton and along the margin of Jackson 
Lake, a combination of water and mountain scenery unsurpassed 
for grandeur and beauty. 

The park may also be reached from Green River and Opal on 
the Union Pacific Railroad, north through a picturesque country 
to Jackson Lake, and from Rawlins, on the Union Pacific Rail- 
road, to Lander and thence over the Fort Washakie road to Jack- 
son Lake. This is for the man who wants a good, long wagon trip 
and a rest from his ordinary occupation. The government, has 
spent $40,000 in the construction of wagon roads from the south 
and east, and the Lander-Fort Washakie-Jackson Lake road is 
one of them. 

The Union Pacific and its branch, the Oregon Short Line, 
bring the traveler to Monida, a station on the boundary of Mon- 
tana and Idaho. Here he exchanges the Pullman for the modern 
Concord coach, which the Monida and Yellowstone Stage Company 
has in readiness for him. Although a day's ride from the boundary 
of the park, a tourist is seldom found who cares to forget that first 
day's coaching. The invigorating air, the ever-changing view of 
mountain and lake, good horses, a good driver and good meals at 
every station, combine to drive into the background the cares of 
his workaday life. This route connects with the belt line at the 
Fountain Hotel in the Lower Geyser Basin. 

Many visitors choose a northern entrance, coming by way of 
the Northern Pacific to Livingstone on the main line; thence a 
branch road fifty miles long drops almost directly south to Cinna- 
bar, Montana, eight miles from Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, 
and Fort Yellowstone, where the itinerary of the tourist choosing 
this route commences. 

The trip as planned by the Yellowstone Park Transportation 
Company occupies five days, and includes the main points of in- 
terest, but each hotel may become the center of enjoyable side 
trips, if the visitor has time and means to tarry. 

All stage lines are equipped with the best and most modern 
coaches. Necessary . hand baggage is carried, and trunks are 
stored free of charge. Parties coming in by one route and desir- 



THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 57 

ing to leave by the other may have their baggage transferred 
without cost. 

Hotel rates are four dollars per day. There are four modern 
hotels, with electric lights, baths and telegraphic communication 
with all parts of the world. These are so situated that coaches 
reach them before an early dinner hour and leave after breakfast. 
The midday meal is procured at lunch stations conveniently 
placed between the hotels. 

The Wylie Camping Company furnishes still another way of 
doing the park. It stands in about the same relation to the two 
just described that an accommodation train does to the Pullman 
flyer. One travels the same road and has the same views, but 
from a two-horse spring wagon instead of a four-horse Concord 
coach. He sleeps in a tent, dines from a camp table, and pays 
thirty-five dollars for his week in the park. 

Last of all comes the independent camper, who cooks his 
meals in the geyser wells, finds plenty of suitable camping places, 
and may have a very good time with small expense, if he is careful 
to quench his camp fire, and keeps his dog tied under his wagon, 
or, better still, leaves him at home. 

As the United States has sole and exclusive jurisdiction over 
the park, its protection and improvement are under the direction 
of government officers. Fort Yellowstone, located at Mammoth 
Hot Springs, is a two-troop cavalry post. The commanding officer 
is the acting superintendent of the park. The United States Com- 
missioner, who has civil jurisdiction of all crimes and offences com- 
mitted within the park, is stationed here. There are also ten out- 
posts throughout the park, at each of which is stationed a non- 
commissioned officer and a small squad of men, who patrol the 
entire area of the park both summer and winter. 

All roads are constructed and kept in repair at the expense of 
the government. The road leading south from Mammoth Hot 
Springs, at Norris Geyser Basin, twenty miles from Mammoth 
Hot Springs, intersects the belt line, which describes a circle of 
one hundred miles, and upon which are situated nearly all the most 
prominent points of interest. Twenty miles of the one hundred 
can be covered by steamer across Yellowstone Lake, if the traveler 
so elects, for an extra fare of three dollars. 

The English language is rich in adjectives, and all have been 
brought into service, but failed to picture the park. In spite of 
the attempts of the word painter, it has not been described. Each 
one must see for himself to appreciate the generosity of Mother 
Nature, who has planned entertainment for every mood of every 
character. The poet may find his theme, the artist an inexhaust- 
ible supply of studies, the scientist a rich held for work. The lover 



58 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

of the grotesque will linger in the hoodoos. The mud geysers will 
satisfy a craving for the horrible. Spluttering pools and boiling 
springs will testify that the stokers of the lower regions are never 
off duty. The geysers bear a family resemblance to one another, 
but each has an individuality in cone and action. The Grand 
Canon, with its many-hued walls, might alone invite the world to 
be its guest. Fish are waiting to be caught, but deer and other 
game seem to realize that they are the wards of the government, 
and only pose for the admiration or the camera of the visitor. 
Bears never fail to furnish the after dinner amusement at the 
hotels. 



The Climate and Its Benefits 



Mountain Ranges — Nine-tenths of Wyoming lies within the 
Rocky Mountain region. Strictly speaking, the whole state is a 
region of vast plains, relieved by broken and detached ranges and 
mountain spurs. In the eastern part of the state we encounter 
the Laramie Range, which extends northwesterly for 200 miles. 

Proceeding westward, after traversing the southern portion 
of the Laramie Plains, we come to the Medicine Bow Mountains. 
Crossing the Platte River, which, with its tributaries, occupies a 
breadth of fifteen to twenty-five miles, we come to the main chain 
of the Rocky Mountains, in a broken series of ranges extending 
through the state. From the western base of the Laramie Range, 
after crossing the Laramie Plains, nearly 100 miles in width, an 
east and west range of mountains is found, which constitutes the 
southern front of the Sweetwater Valley. This wall bears several 
names, to-wit: Sweetwater, Seminoe, and Ferris Mountains, ran- 
ges about five to twelve miles in width, and in length almost eighty 
miles. West of these lies the Green River Valley, sixty to seventy 
miles across. 

Returning to the eastern boundary, we find the Black Hills 
extending to the northern boundary of the state, where they come 
in contact with the Little Missouri and Wolf Mountains, whose 
high and picturesque heads occupy much of the northeastern cor- 
ner of the state. 

Passing over the beautiful valley of the Powder River and its 
tributaries, toward the west, we come to the magnificent Big Horn 
Range, fifty miles in breadth, extending 150 miles in Wyoming. 



THE CLIMATE AND ITS BENEFITS 59 

Beyond flows the Big Horn River, watering a basin fifty to one 
hundred miles in width. Still beyond, in a southwesterly direc- 
tion, are found the Owl Creek, Rattlesnake and Wind River Moun- 
tains, the last named being the most extensive, with a direction 
corresponding to that of the Rocky Mountains. In fact, they 
form a part of this great chain, and, extending for a distance of 
200 miles from the point of departure from the Sweetwater Range, 
finally end in the Yellowstone National Park. 

Still west of this range lie the upper basins of the Green and 
Snake Rivers, the two being separated by short spurs, known 
as the Gros Ventre and Wyoming Mountains, connecting the Wind 
River with the Wasatch referred to as contributing, for about 100 
miles, to the western wall of the state. 

From the general description of the position, extent and 
course of mountain ranges, widely distributed over the state, it 
will be seen that large areas of valley and plain must exist. 

General — There is no region of equal area that is possessed 
of more abounding and diversified richness of resources and pos- 
sibility. It is almost as limitless in undeveloped opportunities 
as it was when Bonneville first broke his way into Jackson Hole — 
now the wonderland of the United States. 

MEDICAL AUTHORITIES. 

"In selecting a climate, the question of degree of temperature 
is a minor one. A dry, equable temperature is always preferable. 
Dry cold is not dangerous, and is, indeed, preferable to enervating 
warmth." (Wood and Fitz, Practice of Medicine.) 

George Burney, M. D., says: "In selecting a climate for a 
consumptive, the first question which occurs to us is the inquiry 
as to the proportion of sunny days in which outdoor exercise can 
be safely enjoyed. In the great majority of cases a dry climate, 
with abundant sunshine and pure air, constitutes the desidera- 
tum." 

Dr. Weber says: "Setting aside individual peculiarities, the 
majority of tubercular patients do best at a height of three to six 
thousand feet." 

Dr. Knight of Boston says: "In suitable cases (those in which 
large cavities are not formed in the lungs) the improvement in 
nutritive activity is much more marked in mountainous regions 
than on the plains," and that "four to eight thousand feet is the 
proper altitude." 

The cases that are most favorably impressed here are: 

1. Where the apices are early affected. 



60 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

2. Those without cavities, although advanced and with con- 
solidation. 

3. Recent cases whose salient symptom is hemorrhage. 

4. A non-progressive cavity is benefitted. 

5. Remaining consolidation after pleurisy and pneumonia. 

6. Chronic laryngeal also no worse here than elsewhere. 
Cure for Special Maladies — If one were called upon to select 

a climate calculated to benefit a patient suffering from a particular 
malady, it would seem the most rational to select one where that 
particular disease or class of diseases did not prevail, and as en- 
demic phthisis has never been known to generate in Wyoming, no 
stronger argument could be advanced in favor of this being a cur- 
ative climate. 

Resorts of any desirable elevation are within reach. Wyo- 
ming presents climatic influences equally favorable for the restor- 
ing of those invalided by bronchial maladies and catarrhal states 
of the throat and naso-pulmonary air-passages as it presents for 
the alleviation and cure of tuberculosis. 

This is the region, par excellence, for asthmatic people. Many 
hundreds of people of all ages thus afflicted have come here from 
the low altitudes of the east and west, have been restored to health 
and vigor, and to-day are among the most active and prosperous 
of our citizens. 

Our altitude does not militate even against those who have 
valvular disease of the heart, unless where compensation is de- 
stroyed, and accompanied by dilation and weakness. 

Chronic laryngitis and bronchitis are speedily cured by resi- 
dence, unless they exist as complications of advanced stages of 
consumption. Persons whose habits of life do not allow or com- 
pel them to fully expand their lungs in a pure atmosphere; pale, 
anaemic clerks, those of sedentary habits, with hacking coughs; 
nervous and dyspeptic people; children with narrow, stooping 
shoulders and flat breasts, with impaired digestion, should come 
to these mountains, if possible, as the air of this region necessitates 
full breathing; every cell in the lungs is forced into activity, 
straightening the form, increasing the breathing area, and hurry- 
ing the blood, thus purified, through the lungs. The choice of 
climate for the patient is the most important part of the treatment. 

CLIMATOLOGY— RECORD FOR FIVE YEARS. 

Temperature — The mean temperature averaged 41.7 degrees. 
August was the warmest month, with a mean of 67.4 degrees, and 
December was the coldest, with a mean of 17.4 degrees. The 
highest monthly mean was 73.4 degrees for July, and the lowest 
was 5.8 degrees for December. The highest temperature was 105 



THE CLIMATE AND ITS BENEFITS 61 

degrees, during July and August, and the lowest was 30 degrees 
below zero, during December, an extreme range for the state of 
135 degrees. 

Precipitation — The yearly precipitation was 12.58 inches, 
slightly below the normal. May was the month of greatest pre- 
cipitation, when nearly twice the normal occurred. September 
was the dryest month of the year, the average being that of 0.25 
of an inch, or about one-fourth of the normal. The average was 
above the normal the remainder of the year. 

"Weather — The percentages of clear, partly cloudy and cloudy 
days were 50, 32 and 18, respectively. There was an average of 
sixty-seven days on which 0.01 of an inch or more precipitation 
fell. Foggy weather in the state was not usual, as at Lander dense 
fog did not prevail for an hour at any time during the year, and at 
Cheyenne but twice. The percentage of sunshine at Cheyenne 
was 69, being least in May, 43, and greatest in September, 77. 

Climatic Conditions — The heat is never intense. In the hot- 
test summer weather it is but a step from the heat of the sunshine 
into the shade, which is always cool. Sunstroke is unknown. The 
air in winter is clear and sharp, but easily borne and even pleasant. 
All over the state — except at high altitudes — one may, even in 
midwinter, sit in comfort in the sunshine in any sheltered corner. 
In the shade there is the tingle of northern cold, and heavy cloth- 
ing is none too warm. The tonic effect of this climate upon nu- 
trition is from this coolness the more marked. It is the brilliant 
and continuous sunshine which is much praised by mountain res- 
idents, and which is misunderstood to refer to air. The invalid 
who comes to Wyoming for a winter is not coming to a climate of 
balmy warmth, but, rather, and better, to one where the bracing 
cold is flooded for more than three-fourths of the day with bright 
sunshine. 

Vacation Resort for Tourists and Hunters — There is no bet- 
ter district in the Rocky Mountains for a holiday or camping tour 
than in Wyoming. The stillness of the mountain soothes and 
quiets those who have become mentally exhausted from prolonged 
strain and anxious cares or absorbing occupations. Its summer 
is cool, and in the higher parks the nights are cold. Autumn is an 
unbroken stretch of cool and sunshiny days. Game and fish are 
abundant. The railroads carry one to within a short ride, by 
horse or wagon, through yet unbroken wilderness. From June 
to October is the season for roughing it. With restoration to 
health, Wyoming does not say, "Now return to your home," but, 
rather, welcomes the restored invalid and holds out to him many 
inducements to remain. 

Such, briefly sketched, is this mountain empire — vast in ex- 



62 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

tent, presenting the most picturesque scenery, the greatest charm 
of climate, the riches of forest, stream and mine, a treasure house 
of untold wealth, whose unlimited possibilities and incalculable 
resources, together with the bluest and gentlest of heavens bending 
above, invite the sick and well alike to come and partake of the 
free offering, and remain, a valued addition to our population. 
The climate is one of the richest endowments of Wyoming. It is 
exhilarating; cheers and braces each individual, lending character 
to our civil and industrial life, and imparting to our citizens a ro- 
bustness of physique unequalled in any country in the entire 
world. 



Live Stock 



The live stock industry of Wyoming, which for a long time 
was its only industry, has a history as varied and romantic as a 
sixteenth century tale. When the country now comprised in 
this state was first discovered, a luxuriant grass covered the 
prairies, upon which nothing but buffalo and wild game grazed. 
Her first herds were gathered and reared by men who preceded 
the first attempts at actual settlement of the territory. Lying in 
the pathway of that great migration to the Pacific coast, which 
began in the middle of the past century, her territory was neces- 
sarily traversed by countless long trains of ox teams, many of 
which, through accident or disease, were destined never to reach 
their journey's end. Sick, injured, footsore and poor, these ani- 
mals were abandoned to live as best they might, or become a prey 
for the wild animals of mountain and plain. That many of them 
lived through the winter following and were fat enough for beef 
i'n the early springtime proved a revelation to the man accustomed 
to long and expensive winter feeding, and forced his attention to 
the fact that our mountain grasses must possess nutritious quali- 
ties of marvelous worth. To raise cattle, horses and sheep was, 
for our earliest settlers, an easy matter, but to keep them was 
quite a different proposition, for the Indian had little respect for 
the rights of ownership, and no horse was safe beyond the reach 
of a bullet from his owner's trusty rifle. When the white man 
came to stay he brought vast herds of cattle that thrived on the 
strong and nutritious grasses of the open range. Fast following 
these early days of settlement, of danger and accumulation, came 



LIVE STOCK 63 

the "boom" in the cattle business during the '80s, marked by the 
investment of millions of dollars by men who knew nothing of the 
business in which they so recklessly embarked. The period of 
unwarranted speculation, fancy prices and extravagant waste was 
of short duration, and, naturally enough, was followed by rapid 
depression of prices and the consequent failures of the inexperi- 
enced. 

Following this appeared the ranchman of moderate means, 
having smaller herds of cattle, who had learned by bitter expe- 
rience that feed must be provided for severe winters. Thus 
ranches were settled and irrigated — alfalfa, hay and other feed 
provided — rendering the business that was formerly so precarious 
a safe and steady avocation, and one that is rapidly giving our 
people wealth and independence. 

The live stock industry has been the most remunerative bus- 
iness of this section of the west; mining and agriculture are fast 
becoming close competitors. As to which branch of the business 
— cattle, sheep or horses — one should adopt, no advice can be giv- 
en. One should follow that for which he is best adapted. Large 
fortunes and many comfortable competencies have been and are 
being made in each branch. 

CATTLE. 

This great industry, combined with farming, offers splendid 
opportunities for profitable investment. To-day cattle are suc- 
cessfully grown in every section of the state. 

We still have forty million acres of free government range 
upon which our farmers graze their herds, and doubtless over 
half the cattle of Wyoming are run on this open range during the 
entire year, although our stock growers generally appreciate the 
importance of winter feeding and are rapidly increasing hay and 
grain production. 

Wyoming can grow better beef at less cost than almost any 
other section, for the reason that land values are very low as com- 
pared with other states. And there is ample free range upon 
which the cattle graze over half the year; moreover, alfalfa, hay 
and oats combined form a perfect ration for the correct and com- 
plete development of bone, muscle and flesh, while our natural 
buffalo grass and bluestem hay excel the famous bluegrass of Ken- 
tucky. Under irrigation these can be quickly and cheaply grown, 
while our cloudless summer skies permit us to harvest these crops 
so as to retain all nutritive properties. 

Blood and feed, combined with ideal natural conditions, in a 
land where disease is unknown, enable us to defy the world in 
breeding live stock. Our winters are dry and mild, and in most 



64 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

sections cattle graze in the open fields during the entire season. 

All "beef" breeds do well and show marked improvement 
in this high altitude. Many pedigreed herds could be established 
here successfully, while experiments made by our more progressive 
ranchmen have demonstrated conclusively that steers can be hay- 
fed and matured during the winter with great profit. 

Dairying is also a paying branch of the cattle industry.. 

SHEER 

Since 1883 the sheep industry has grown enormously, and 
many heretofore poor men have become rich, some owning as many 
as 65,000 head. Sheep are grazed in the mountains in the summer, 
and in the winter upon the plains, where they find the cured grass, 
as nature provides it, together with the browse furnished by the 
sage brush. A sheep man needs no ranch and makes no prepara- 
tions in the way of harvested feed for the winter, but, like Abraham 
of old, moves about with his flocks, in the summer living in tents 
in the cool shades of the mountains, and in winter in a "sheep 
wagon," which is fully equipped with spring bed, stove and kitch- 
en outfit. Sheep are subject to no disease except scab, which is 
easily cured. The wool, at fifteen cents per pound, a little more 
than pays all the cost of running the sheep a year, so that the in- 
crease and mutton are the accumulated net profits. 

Wyoming leads all the western states and territories in the 
price per head of its sheep, and leads every state in the Union in 
total value of its sheep, the number and value of its lambs, 
the amount and value of its wool clip, and the average weight of 
fleece produced. 

As the sheep have multiplied and the free range diminished 
through settlement and segregation, our flockmasters have been 
keenly alive to the importance of improving the quality of the 
wool and the necessity of early maturity in mutton; hence we 
now find the lambs going to market in an ever-increasing flood, 
while winter feeding of lambs is rapidly becoming an important 
branch of the sheep industry. Lambs are fed on alfalfa hay, to- 
gether with grain of some sort or peas, and in one hundred days 
of winter feeding made to weigh eighty to ninety pounds. Mut- 
ton so produced is considered by epicures the best in the market. 
Sheep on the open range seem to stand more severe winter weather 
than cattle. Nevertheless, it is only a question of a few years 
until our flockmasters must expect to feed some hay or grain dur- 
ing the winter. Fortunately, the great government irrigation 
projects now under way will doubtless be completed in time to 
supply this growing demand. 







IS > 2 

r is g 



3 6 

fc! C 



LIVE STOCK 65 

HORSES. 

It has been proven beyond question that horses raised on the 
foothills and mountains, in the pure light air of an elevation of 
from 5,000 to 10,000 feet, have better lungs, stronger and better 
developed bone and muscle, and tougher hoofs, than horses from 
any other country. This is borne out by the fact that not only 
the United States Government, during the Spanish war and since, 
but the English Government, for service in South Africa, have 
purchased as many thousand head of horses in Wyoming as could 
be obtained. 

No horse in the world can compete with the Wyoming horse 
in endurance of all kinds of hardship to which horse flesh is sub- 
jected by man. This is a broad statement, but we make it with- 
out fear of refutation; every horseman and horse in the state stands 
ready to back it up. 

Embracing about 98,000 square miles of territory, nearly 
every acre of which is clothed in a mantle of the most nutritious 
grasses and sage brush browse, Wyoming presents a territory for 
grazing purposes 40 per cent, larger than is found in all the eastern 
states combined. Add to this vast food supply the most delight- 
ful climate in the world, with cool summers and dry, mild winters, 
and it is but little wonder that Wyoming has been called the 
"Stockman's Paradise," and that it has become an important 
factor in supplying beef, mutton and wool to the eastern and west- 
ern markets. 

The requisites for success in the business are a few cattle, 
sheep or horses, and attention to their wants under the conditions 
of the country and climate. The man who can do this for a few 
years will, with common prudence, find himself independent of 
the world, and his old age may be spent in peace and with plenty. 

SWINE. 

Swine do remarkably well in our state, hog cholera being un- 
known, and it is said that young shoats born in our high altitude 
are not liable to contract the disease when shipped east to be fin- 
ished on corn. Swine do well the year round on alfalfa. In the 
summer they are turned in to the green alfalfa fields and in the 
winter fed on the dry hay. The best of pork can be produced very 
cheaply on a combination feed of alfalfa, roots, small grain or 
peas. 

To-day Wyoming imports a large proportion of the salt pork, 
bacon and ham consumed by her citizens, amounting to tens of 
thousands of dollars' worth each year. The freight rate from the 
3— 



G6 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

eastern market is very high, and this meat could be produced in 
Wyoming with great profit. 



Mineral Resources 



There are few states in the Union that possess mineral re- 
sources as vast and varied as those of Wyoming. The late Prof. 
Knight of the State University identified 156 of the varieties of 
mineral noted in Dana's System of Mineralogy as occurring in Wy- 
oming, and this list is constantly being added to as the different 
formations are opened up and understood. 

Gold, silver, copper and lead all have been known for years 
in almost every mountain range in the state, and the work of the 
past few years has demonstrated beyond a doubt that these. ores 
exist in commercial quantities. 

Until now the crying need of these resources has been railroad 
transportation, but that need has been supplied in a measure by 
the building of the new roads into the central part of the state, and 
an unprecedented activity is now apparent in these camps. The 
quality and quantity of these ores have been assured for years, and 
it is now possible to get them to market on a commercial scale. 

Up-to-date investors are now searching the camps of Wyo- 
ming for the mines that meet their requirements, and means and 
brains are now making mines out of these long-neglected prospects, 
and even at this early date the results are flattering. 

There is not another Rocky Mountain state with greater pos- 
sibilities than Wyoming, or that offers better opportunities for 
mineral investments; certainly none with so much public domain 
subject to location as mineral land, and, besides the precious met- 
als, the wealth of coal, oil and natural gas will some day make Wy- 
oming as great a producing and manufacturing state as Pennsyl- 
vania is to-day. 

Gold Mining — Gold mines were first worked at South Pass, 
Fremont County, in 1867, since which date the industry has 
amounted to something each year. The annual production has 
fluctuated from $25,000 to $125,000, the total being estimated at 
$4,000,000 produced. 

The placer mines that were rich enough to be worked with 
limited means were worked out long ago. Large tracts of placer 
gold ground, that can only be worked with great expenditure of 



MINERAL RESOURCES 67 

money and the most modern and economical devices, remain. 
These are now owned by large companies who are arranging to 
work some of them. 

The Douglas Creek placers in Albany County are being 
worked and a number of new plants will be installed as soon as the 
season is open. 

The gold usually occurs in quartz veins, which are found in 
all the mountain districts, the most promising of which are as fol- 
lows: South Pass, Atlantic, Copper Mountain and Black Rock in 
Fremont County; Seminoe, Gold Hill and the Sierra Madre Moun- 
tains in Carbon County; Jelm, Medicine Bow and Centennial in 
Albany County; Black Hills in Crook County; Shoshone and Ab- 
saroka Mountains in Big Horn County and the Laramie Hills. 

Silver and Lead — These metals are found in small quantities 
in all the prominent ranges. Galena is the usual ore carrying sil- 
ver, but at the Esterbrook mine, in northern Albany County, a 
vein of cerusite or silicious lead carbonate has been found. The 
silver values vary from ten to six hundred ounces per ton, and the 
lead from twenty to sixty per cent, in commercial ores. Ship- 
ments have been made from camps in Crook, Big Horn, Albany 
and Laramie Counties. 

Copper — During the past few years copper in commercial 
quantities has been found in nearly all of the thirteen counties of 
the state, and development work is being actively pushed. The 
principal ore is usually a chalcopyrite or yellow sulphide of copper, 
associated with the rarer forms. These forms are usually covered 
by a capping of oxidized iron, in which the oxidized forms of cop- 
per, usually the blue and green carbonates, are found. The 
Grand Encampment Copper District, in southern Wyoming, is 
the leading producer, and active camps are being established in 
the Laramie Hills, Shoshone Mountains, Owl Mountains, Copper 
Mountain, the Wind River Range and the Big Horn Mountains. 

Coal — Coal mining has been the leading mineral industry in 
the state, and will, in all probability, continue in the front rank 
for a time, though copper is fast gaining upon it. It had its origin 
with the advent of the transcontinental railroad, and has increased 
with the development of the state, until to-day it employs over 
10,000 workmen and has a production of 6,218,778 tons of coal per 
annum. 

Coal-bearing formations underlie a larger proportion of Wyo- 
ming than of any other of the Rocky Mountain states. Most of 
the productive area in Wyoming is included within the Plains 
region. More than half of the coal produced in Wyoming is lig- 
nitic in character, a large proportion of the lignite output coming 
from the fields which extend from North Dakota through south- 



(58 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

eastern Montana to the northeastern part of Wyoming. Most of 
the bituminous fields are in the more mountainous regions, and 
their areas, like those of the other Rocky Mountain fields, are 
small compared with those of the lignite beds in the northeastern 
part of the State. Among the more important producing areas 
are the Hanna fields, in Carbon County, the Rock Springs field, in 
SweetAvater County; the Ham's Fork field, in Uinta County, and 
the Almy field, also in Uinta County, the last two counties pro- 
ducing nearly 75 per cent, of the State's entire output. The prin- 
cipal lignite production is at Sheridan, in Sheridan County. Most 
of the lignite is black in color, and, having many of the charac- 
teristics of bituminous coal, is frequently classed as such by the 
producers. The other fields which have not yet been reached by 
railroads are the Henry's Fork field, in the southern part of Sweet- 
water County and the Teton field in the northern part of Uinta 
County. The Wind River field, in Fremont County, has been 
tapped by the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. 

The extension of the Burlington route to Kirby, twelve miles 
north of Thermopolis, in Big Horn County, has tapped one of the 
greatest fields of coal in the West after many years of neglect. 
This coal has been mined on a small scale and marketed locally 
but will now form an important item in the fuel problem of this 
section for many years to come as the Kirby coal is but one point 
in a great field. The coal formations extend all over the entire 
Big Horn Basin, and similar veins have been opened for local use 
at many of the inland towns which must be reached by a railroad 
in the near future. The northern Wyoming fields have been 
merely touched upon and their full extent is not yet known. 

Another field adjacent to the Union Pacific system is the 
Rawlins field, extending from the southern part of Fremont County 
through northeastern Sweetwater into Carbon County. The oper- 
ations here are not of great importance. The Sublette field, in the 
western part of Uinta County, crossed by the Oregon Short Line, 
is also of little importance. 

The kinds of coal vary from a pure lignite to a high grade 
long-flamed bituminous variety. The best grades of coal are low- 
in sulphur and ash, and are excellent fuels for locomotives, general 
steam making, domestic purposes and gas production. 

A semi-anthracite was discovered in Johnson County in 1887. 
Coking coal has been discovered in two or three localities, and 
seventy-four Beehive coke ovens are operated at Cambria, Weston 
County, having an output of over 20,000 tons per annum. All 
coke so far manufactured in this state has been made at Cambria. 



MINERAL RESOURCES 



69 



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70 



THE STATE OF WYOMING 



The coal fields are so universal that commercial coal is known 
to exist in every county, and in all but one coal mines are worked. 
The area of workable coal land is over 20,000 square miles. The 
coal veins are numerous. It is not an uncommon thing to find 
six or eight workable veins in a single field. In thickness the 
seams vary from a few inches to 75 feet. The coal mines operated 
at present have working veins varying from four to forty feet. 
The coal lands are owned, to a large extent, by the government, 
but are subject to location. Already three great railroads have 
penetrated these fields, but the industry has only started, -and by 
the close ^of another quarter of a century Wyoming will be produc- 
ing not less than 10,000,000 tons of coal per annum. 

Wyoming stands twelfth in the list of coal-producing states, 
and while the amount produced in other states has remained sta- 
tionary in the past two years, the amount produced in Wyoming 
has increased twenty per cent. 

The following statement of the coal output of Wyoming is 
taken from the annual reports of the Coal Mine Inspectors for the 
two districts of the State and is official. 

Statement of Coal Output for Year ending December 3 J, \ 907. 
District No. 1. 



OWNER 


COUNTY 


ADDRESS 


MINE 


TONS 




Uinta 

Uinta 

Uinta 

Uinta ..... 

Uinta ..... 

Sweetwater 

Sweetwater 

Carbon 

Carbon 

Carbon 

Uinta 

Uinta 

Uinta 

Sweetwater 
Sweetwater 
Sweetwater 
Sweetwater 
Sweetwater 

Uinta 

Sweetwatef 
Sweetwater 
Sweetwater 
Sweetwater 


Diamondville . 

Oakley 

Glencoe 

Frontier 

Frontier 

Sweetwater . . 
Rock Springs . 

Hanna 

Hanna 

Hanna 

Cumberland . . 
Cumberland . . 
Cumberland . . 
Rock Springs . 
Rock Springs . 
Rock Springs . 
Rock Springs . 
Rock Springs . 

Almy 

Rock Springs . 

Superior 

Superior 

Superior 

Superior 


No. 1 . . 


144,195 




No. 2 . . 


150,191 




No. 4 


328,107 




No. 1 . . 


357,383 




No. 3 . . 


109,953 


Central Coal & Coke Co 


No. 1 


192,276 


Central Coal & Coke Co 


No. 2 


142,623 




No. 1 


258,655 




No. 2 


255,057 




No. 3 . . 


9,094 




No. 1 . . 


469,805 




No. 2 


119,468 




No. 3 


260,845 




No. 1 . . 


353,759 




No. 7 


296,687 


Union Pacific Coal Co 


No. 8 

No. 9 


315,368 
281,133 




No. 10 


320,487 


Rocky Mt, Coal & Iron Co. . . 
Wyoming Coal & Coke Co. . . 


Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 

No. 1 

"A" 


48,505 

4,459 

92,416 




"B" 


2,842 




"C" 


46,525 




"D" . 


5,025 










Tot 


AL 


4,564,858 



mineral resources 
District No. 2. 



71 



OWNER 


COUNTS 


ADDRESS 


MINE 


TONS 




Sheridan . . . 
Weston .... 
Sheridan . . . 
Converse . . . 

Crook 

Sheridan . . . 
Converse . . . 


Sheridan 

Cambria 

Carneyville . . . 
Big Muddy . . . 

Aladdin 

Monarch 

Glenrock 


Nos. 1,2,3,4,5 . 
Nos. 1,2,3,4,5,6 

No. 1 

No. 1 

No. 1 


600,174 


Cambria Fuel Co. . . 


361,520 
298,300 


Cole Creek Coal Co 


22,139 


Stilwell Coal Co. . 


3,669 


Wyoming Coal Mining Co. . . . 


No. 1 


294,899 
43,219 


Nos. 1 and 2 ... 


Mined at Lost Springs, Inez, 
Hudson, Gebo, Cody, Lan- 
der, Sheridan and other 
places not reported to In- 
spector, estimated 


30,000 


Tot 




1,653,920 











TOTAL PRODUCTION, 1907 6,218,778 

Natural Gas — Associated with the oil fields throughout the 
state are numerous natural gas horizons. The gas pressure in the 
oil wells near Lander is very great and gas escapes are noted at or 
near most of the oil springs. At Brenning Basin, near Douglas, 
in Converse County, a flow of gas has been struck in several wells, 
at a depth of 500 feet, and the gas has been piped and used for 
fuel and light in the vicinity, a pressure of 300 pounds per square 
inch having been noted. Near Grey bull, in Fremont County, an 
immense gas reservoir has been tapped and the well is being capped 
at this time. At Byron, thirty miles northwest of Grey bull, there 
are seven wells which show natural gas in commercial quantities, 
and also at Garland, seven miles west of Byron. In the eastern 
part of Fremont County there are two wonderful natural gas 
escapes. Prospectors have dug shallow shafts and curbed them 
with logs; the shafts are partially filled with water and the gas 
escapes with such violence as to cause the water in them to boil as 
though in a cauldron. Throughout the state there are numerous 
anticlinals that are apparently not associated with the oil districts, 
where large flows of gas may be looked for. 

Until recently natural gas has not received much attention 
as there was but little local demand or use for the product, but 
with the changing industrial conditions throughout the state, this 
will be a valuable asset within a few years. 

Bituminous Shale — In the Green River Valley and at Rock 
Springs there are great bands of rich bituminous shale, that equals 
the shales of Scotland, where an army of men are employed and 
the production is sold for millions of dollars per annum. The 
shales are burned in a retort, and the products saved are gas, oil, 



72 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

tar and ammonium sulphate. The richest of these shales assay 
45 per cent, volatile matter. 

Volcanic Ash — In several localities in Wyoming volcanic ash 
has been found. In Albany County, near Laramie, there is a bed 
four feet in depth. It is almost white and is so fine that the 
greater portion of it will pass through a 100-mesh sieve. Samples 
of equal purity have been examined from Carbon and Sweetwater 
Counties. This material is used for scouring purposes. It is the 
base of sapolio, and is also used in geyserite soap. 

Graphite — Veins of graphite are known at French Creek, 
Plumbago Canon and Halleck Canon, in Albany County, and in 
the Indian Grove Mountains, in Carbon County. The veins are 
large and easily accessible. Analyses of samples from the various 
localities show the carbon contents to vary from 40 to 60 per cent. 
So far as known, the ore is of the amorphous variety and would 
make good fire-proof paint, stove polish or graphite crucibles. 

Asphaltum — Along the north side of the Rattlesnake Moun- 
tains there are several deposits of asphaltum that occur below the 
oil springs. There is also another bed on the Shoshone Reserva- 
tion, east of Fort Washakie. This has been formed about an oil 
spring and contains several thousand tons. The quality is excel- 
lent, quite free from foreign matter, and it would make a splendid 
paving material. 

Manganese Ores — Ores that fall under this class have been 
found in Albany, Crook, Sweetwater, Big Horn, Uinta and Fre- 
mont Counties. The development is only slight, since the dis- 
coveries have been too far from railroads to warrant shipments. 
The ores are of good grade and are found in good sized veins. Sam- 
ples from different localities vary from 40 to 55 per cent, man- 
ganese. 

Epsom Salts — Epsom salts can be found in small quantities 
throughout the arid region, but in Wyoming it is found in large 
beds. Near Rock Creek, in Albany County, there is a depression 
containing about ninety acres that is covered with this salt. The 
exact depth is not known. In this immediate vicinity there are 
several other beds, the total area of the Epsom Salt Lakes being 
given at 160 acres. The salt is as pure as the commercial product 
that sells in our drug stores for ten cents per ounce. These depos- 
its are near the railroad, and, if properly handled, should enable a 
company to control the Epsom salt trade of America. 

Building Stone — Building stones of innumerable varieties are 
common throughout the state. The sandstone quarries at Raw- 
lins, Carbon County, have a large output, which is shipped to 
Colorado, Utah and Nebraska. The capitol and federal buildings 



MINERAL RESOURCES 73 

at Cheyenne, and the State penitentiary are built of this stone. 
In Laramie County the Iron Mountain quarries furnish a beautiful 
white sandstone which is much in favor and has been used for the 
Stock Growers Bank building, several business blocks and the new 
Roman Catholic Cathedral at Cheyenne. Granite, limestone, 
quart zites, serpentine marble and marble onyx are included in the 
varieties. 

Gypsum — This mineral is very common and is found in all 
varieties. Beds varying from 20 to 100 feet in thickness are ex- 
posed along the mountain ranges. The mineral is very pure, and 
can be utilized for purposes where gypsum is required. 

There is an opportunity for small gypsum plaster mills in 
nearly every part of the state, and with a cheap local production, 
the uses of this plaster would rapidly multiply, as it is of a very 
superior quality and suitable for exterior and interior uses. 

Plaster of Paris — The Consolidated Plaster Company is oper- 
ating a plaster mill at Red Buttes, in Albany County. There is 
room and material in sight to supply a thousand mills; in fact, 
Wyoming could furnish the world with plaster of paris for a thou- 
sand years, and then not consider the beds exhausted. 

Natural Plaster — At Laramie, Albany County, and in a few 
other localities deposits of what has been called a natural plaster 
have been found. The mineral occurs in superficial deposits, vary- 
ing from two to six feet in depth. It is pulverulent and has a light 
gray color. When a portion of the water has been driven off, it 
sets and forms a very hard cement. 

Clays — Pressed and common brick are manufactured in the 
state, but at present there are no other clay industries. The clay 
beds are in abundance and are found in every county in the state. 
Common brick clay, fire clay, tile and terra cotta clay and potters' 
clay are found in thick beds in the sedimentary rocks, and not in 
superficial deposits, as they are usually seen in the northern and 
eastern states. 

Nearly every small town has brick yards in the immediate 
vicinity, as the clays are universal, and some remarkably fine com- 
mercial brick are made. The clay also makes very fine tiling for 
floors, fireplaces and all kinds of pottery and piping. 

Bentonite, or "soap clay," is found in many parts of the state, 
and shipments are made from the beds at Rock Creek, Albany 
County, and Newcastle, Weston County, a number of cars being 
shipped every year from each place. This clay is used as an adul- 
terant, as a filler in paper making and for medical purposes, being 
worked up and sold under the name of "Antiphlogistine." 

By analysis this clay contains silica, alumina, iron, magnesia, 
sulphur and water, samples having shown over 89 per cent, of sil- 



74 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

ica and alumina, 1 per cent, of iron, 3 per cent, of magnesia, 1^ 
per cent, lime and sulphur and 6 per cent, water. Some of these 
deposits have no iron, magnesia or sulphur. One of them has 3 
per cent, iron and 3 per cent, magnesia. 

Tin — Black oxide of tin has been known in veins and as 
stream tin in the Wyoming portion of the Black Hills for many 
years. Tons of stream tin have been mined and sold. The veins 
are slightly developed. There are good veins of tin of average 
richness, and before many years the tin mines of Dakota and Wy- 
oming will be worked. Wyoming gained a medal at the World's 
Fair for her exhibit of stream tin. 

Salt — Near Cambria, Weston County, a plant has been built 
to manufacture salt from Salt Springs, the water of which contains 
22 per cent, salt, and other springs equally fine are noted in John- 
son and Uinta Counties. In the latter place salt is produced for 
local consumption. 

Quartz — The Laramie Mountains abound in large veins of 
pure quartz. When ground, it is valuable for glass making. - 

Glass Sand — There are numerous places in the state where 
glass sand is found. The beds near Laramie have been worked 
and proven. 

Mica — Muscovite mica, the mica of commerce, is very plen- 
tiful in Wyoming, but there are only a few localities where it has 
been found in "book" of sufficient size to warrant mining. In 
Whalen Cafion, some eight or ten miles from Hartville, and at 
Grand Encampment, there are numerous large veins of feldspar 
containing first-class mica. The former has been worked to some 
extent and a small shipment made. Sheets squaring six inches 
have been taken out near the surface. It is first quality in every 
respect. 

Feldspar — Orthoclase feldspar occurs in large veins in Whalen 
Canon. It is free from detrimental minerals and is suitable for 
all purposes where orthoclase could be used. 

Sulphur — For many years deposits of sulphur have been 
known throughout Wyoming, but until recently but little attention 
was paid to them. These are reported from Uinta County, where 
the crude ore analyzes from forty to seventy per cent, of sulphur. 
At Cody, in Big Horn County, there are extensive deposits which 
are being worked on a commercial scale and a small plant has been 
erected thereon. 

The sulphur here occurs as deposits from hot springs. On 
Sunlight Creek, fifty miles north of Cody, there are similar deposits, 
which have never been worked. The Wyoming Sulphur Company 
has secured control of about one thousand acres of land three and 



MINERAL RESOURCES 75 

one-half miles west of Thermopolis and is preparing to erect a plant 
to treat the sulphur found here. The prospect shafts have shown 
it to be up to fifteen feet thick, but the full extent of this deposit 
has not been determined. Other deposits are reported in the Owl 
Creek Mountains west of Thermopolis. 

Bismuth — Bismuth ore of rare purity has been mined at 
Jelm Mountain, and shipped to the east for reduction. The ore 
is a mixture of carbonates and metallic bismuth, and assays from 
50 to 65 per cent. 

Sulphate of Aluminum — This mineral which is usually called 
native alum, occurs in extensive deposits in Sweetwater and Big 
Horn Counties. It is the principal salt used in the manufacture of 
commercial alums, and for this purpose it should be used in con- 
nection with the natural soda. 

Fibrous Talc — A very large vein of fibrous talc exists in the 
Laramie Hills west of Wheatland, and there are veins of similar 
material of varying size and qualities in the Casper Mountains, 
Wind River Ranges and many of the smaller ranges throughout 
the state. This material is used for many of the rougher purposes 
of fireproof materials, and, with the improvement in transporta- 
tion conditions, these Wyoming deposits will be worked. 

Asbestos — On Casper Mountain and on Smith Creek and Deer 
Creek Park in Natrona County, are found deposits of a very fine 
quality of asbestos. Several companies, among which are the 
United States Asbestos M. & F. Company, the Casper Mountain 
Asbestos Company and the North American Asbestos Company 
have secured tracts of land on Casper Mountain and are making 
active operations to put this valuable mineral on the market. 
This is the variety known as "Chrysotile" asbestos, and is of a 
grade similar if not superior to the Canadian asbestos which sup- 
plies general trade at present but which will have a rival in this 
Wyoming product. The fiber is of good color, shows a length up 
to four inches, works up very soft and is easily spun. The full 
extent of these deposits is not yet known, but from surface indica- 
tions is stated to be considerable. 

At the head of Smith Creek the Wyoming Asbestos Company, 
composed of Wyoming capitalists, is opening up a similar deposit, 
and the material exhibited from the Deer Creek Park deposits 
indicates a greater extent of these deposits than has been heretofore 
supposed. 

The inferior varieties of asbestos known as crysolite, amphi- 
bole, fibrous talc and other impure forms also occur in various 
parts of the state, and some of them promise to be used in the near 
future for the coarser grades of fire-proofing and plaster. 



76 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

Decomposed Granite — Some nine years ago the Union Pacific 
Railroad Company commenced loading decomposed granite from 
a point near Sherman and hauling it out as ballast. It was found 
to be far superior to any other stone for this purpose, but it was 
also, to some extent, sold for road building in cities, a use to which 
it is well adapted. 

Natural Pigments — Soft iron ores have been used for red 
paint for years. For many 3^ears paint mills were operated at 
Rawlins. The Brooklyn bridge was originally painted with this 
paint. More recently the ore has been shipped to other states to 
be ground. The soft hematite ores are in large bodies and make 
a first-class paint. Ochres of various shades are known, but the 
beds have not been worked. Graphite and the low grade asbestos 
that Avould make an excellent fire-proof paint are found in large 
bodies. 

Semi-Precious Stones — The semi-precious stones are in abun- 
dance. Quartz crystals, agates, jaspers, moss-agates, petrified 
wood, garnets and beryls are the important ones. The moss- 
agates are the best found in the world. Thus far no precious 
stones have been reported. 

Natural Soda — Extensive deposits of natural soda are known 
in Carbon, Natrona and Albany Counties. Numerous springs 
contain considerable soda, and at Green River a well jdelds a sat- 
urated solution of sodium carbonate, which is shipped by the car 
load. The deposits vary in size from a few to one hundred acres, 
and the soda ranges from a few inches to sixteen feet, and possibly 
more. These deposits are chiefly sodium sulphate, but there are 
carbonates and bi-carbonates in some localities. Along the 
Sweetwater River there are deposits that contain 60 per cent, car- 
bonate of soda. The sulphate, when dried and calcined, has been 
sold in the east for glass making, and was used in the Laramie 
glass factory. With proper machinery, these great beds of soda 
can be utilized and would bring in a large revenue. 

The most valuable natural soda discovered in Wyoming is 
what is known as sodium carbonate, or the sal soda of commerce, 
and can be derived in inexhaustible quantities from wells, avera- 
ging a depth of two hundred feet, at Green River, the county seat 
of Sweetwater County, and on the line of the Union Pacific rail- 
road. Samples of water taken from numerous wells at Green 
River yield an analysis of 20 per cent, of sal soda crystals. 

Mineral Springs — Wyoming is prominent for her mineral 
springs. If we take into our estimate the Yellowstone Park, this 
alone surpasses the rest of the world in the number and magnifi- 
cence of its waters. The mineral springs include hot, cold, sul- 



MINERAL RESOURCES 77 

phur, iron and the alkaline earths, and genuine mud springs. No- 
table ones, but by no means the most important, are at Death 
Lake, where they number more than four hundred. 

A group of some fifty famous hot springs in the Platte Valley 
at Saratoga, in Carbon County, have a temperature of 130° F., 
have been extensively improved and have been used for twenty 
years to the great benefit of the invalid visitor. These springs are 
reached by the new Saratoga and Encampment R. R. from Wal- 
cott, on the Union Pacific R. R. 

At Thermopolis, in the Big Horn Basin, the hot springs have 
an analysis nearly identical with the waters at the Hot Springs, 
Arkansas. These are protected by state law, and are under the 
control of the Board of Charities and Reform. The Burlington 
Route is completed to Worland and is rapidly extending towards 
Thermopolis at the present time. 

The DeMaris Hot Springs at Cody, Big Horn County, are 
noted for their curative powers and are popular with the hunting- 
parties and tourist parties to the Yellowstone Park via the Cody 
Gateway of the Burlington Route. 

A famous hot spring is located two miles west of Fort Wash- 
akie, on the Shoshone Reservation. This spring is 320 feet long- 
by 250 feet broad, with an average temperature of 149° F. The 
minerals held in solution are medicinal. It is held in great repute 
by both whites and Indians as curative of rheumatism and neu- 
ralgia. 

Another equally large, of sulphur, having a temperature of 
97° F., exists near Lander, Fremont County, and is much sought 
by people outside of the state suffering with stomach, kidney. 
liver and bowel disorders. The completion of the Chicago and 
Northwestern R. R. into Lander has made these springs very con- 
venient of access and their popularity is constantly growing. 

In Beaver Canon, north of Sheep Mountain, in Carbon Coun- 
ty, a sulphur spring, with a temperature of 90° F., is found, and 
near by are cold springs which contain soda in solution, sulphur, 
iron, sulphuretted hydrogen and carbonic acid; still another in 
the Platte Cafion, at the east end of Seminoe Mountain, in Carbon 
County, has a temperature of 98° F. 

A spring with a temperature of 108° F. is located ten miles 
below old Fort Laramie; another at the head of West Horse Creek, 
whose temperature is 104° F. 

There are many other springs scattered throughout the state, 
whose analysis suggests that they possess valuable medicinal 
qualities, but, owing to the limited number of people, lack of 
transportation and consequently small demand for mineral water, 
it has been impossible to develop many of them. 



78 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

Limestone — The unprecedented demand for a pure limestone, 
to be used in the beet sugar factories in Colorado, has developed 
a trade at Laramie, Albany County, and Hartville, Laramie Coun- 
ty, and some thousands of tons are shipped annually from these 
quarries. The limestone is very pure, containing 98 per cent, cal- 
cium carbonate, with very little silica, or injurious materials. This 
same stone exists in many other parts of the state, and factories 
may be assured of a constant supply in almost any locality where 
the beets can be grown. 

Iron — Second to those of no state in the Union are the de- 
posits of iron ore. Prospecting along this line has not been carried 
on to any extent, and only iron districts reasonably near the rail- 
road have received any attention. The greatest deposits are red 
hematite, quite free from sulphur and phosphorus, and low in sil- 
ica. The only districts where development or mining has been 
carried on are Hartville, Rawlins and Seminoe. In these camps 
are large deposits of soft ore, which makes an excellent pigment. 
The hard ores are found beneath the surface in bodies varying 
from ten to one hundred feet in thickness. Rawlins and Hartville 
or Guernsey have furnished thousands of tons of ore to be used by 
the Salt Lake and Denver smelters as a flux for lead and copper 
smelting, and two railroads have been built to the Hartville mines. 
Besides the hematite, there are great deposits of magnetite in the 
Laramie Mountains, and beds of clay ironstone in the cretaceous 
rocks in several localities. Hematite ore has been found in Crook, 
Uinta, Johnson, Fremont, Big Horn, Albany and Sheridan Coun- 
ties. The ores examined are of exceptional purity. 

Iron Mines at Guernsey — The Hartville iron range in Laramie 
County, now known throughout the country as containing the 
finest and most extensive deposits of Bessemer steel ores in the 
world, has become the scene of vast operations. Two railroads, 
the Burlington and the Colorado and Wyoming, have been built 
into these fields. The mines now being worked are owned by the 
Wyoming Railway and Iron Company and held under lease by the 
Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. This company has a capital 
of $25,000,000, and is rapidly enlarging its plant at Pueblo, Colo., 
making it one of the largest in the country. The mines are located 
at Sunrise, in the center of the iron belt, where a town has been 
built, and the work is progressing on an extensive scale. 

The ore is mined in great open cuts, where the ore is blasted 
down from the sides and loaded into the cars by steam shovels, 
three of which are in active use daily, the cars being run into the 
cuts on side tracks from the main railroad and the ore shipped di- 
rect from the cuts with as little handling as possible. In this 
manner about 600,000 gross tons of ore are mined per year, which, 



MINERAL RESOURCES 79 

at a mine value of SI . 50 per ton, gives $900,000 worth of crude iron 
ore. A three-compartment shaft, 350 feet deep, has been sunk, 
and three levels run to develop the underlying beds of iron ore 
hitherto neglected. This department will greatly increase the 
output of the mines and be a permanent part of the work. 

The known area of the iron belt, which begins at Guernsey, 
on the south, and runs to the head of Whalen Canon, in a north- 
easterly direction, ten miles, with an average width of three miles, 
covers thirty square miles. The greatness of the deposit is shown 
by the fact that, although the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company 
has a lease of seventy-two patented claims, the present enormous 
output is obtained by working only two mines. 

The ores are exceptionally pure and of the highest grade 
known, showing from 65 to 68 per cent, metallic iron, from 2^ to 
5 per cent, silica, and are practically free from sulphur and phos- 
phorus. 

Rawlins Hematite — Two miles north of Rawlins, Carbon 
County, there is a large deposit of red hematite ore, occurring in 
a metamorphosed sandstone capped with limestone. The ore is 
remarkably pure, and in this vicinity there are several other lo- 
cations which contain similar deposits. 

Seminoe Iron Deposits — One of the largest deposits of iron 
in Wyoming occurs in the Seminoe Mountains, at the foot of Brad- 
ley's Peak, Carbon County. Bradley's Peak has been called a 
mountain of iron ore, containing not less than 1,500,000 tons, and 
when development is begun here this locality will furnish an im- 
portant part of the iron ore to be smelted in Wyoming, as it is es- 
timated this ore can be mined and loaded in the cars for fifteen 
cents per ton. 

GOLD DISTRICTS, 
The South Pass Gold District, Fremont County. 

This district is situated in the south central part of Fremont 
County, Wyoming, near the southern end of the Wind River range 
of mountains. 

The extension of the new line of the Burlington road to be 
built up the Big Horn River from Frannie to Lander, and that of 
the Chicago and Northwestern now built from Casper to Lander, 
has brought this district within thirty-five miles of a railroad, and 
it is more than possible that branches will be run to the mines and 
greatly facilitate the operation of properties in this section. 

Gold was discovered in this region in 1842, and from that time 
until 1869 efforts were made to work the rich placers known to 
exist there, when the great rush to South Pass occurred in the lat- 



80 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

ter year, and the placers rich enough to pay when worked on a 
limited crude scale were promptly worked out and the miners 
sought other opportunities in the then new fields of Colorado and 
Montana. 

Geology — The district may be said to consist of an island of 
metamorphic schists of the Algonkian period lying upon the gran- 
ites of the Archean and with several intrusions of granite and dyke 
rocks in the schists at different localities. The granites of this 
section of the Wind River Range are usually the common red feld- 
sitic granite, and here show an occasional gray granite island or 
band, usually of limited extent. 

The schists show for a distance of about thirty miles long, 
from ten to twelve wide, the longer axis bearing northeasterly and 
southwesterly, in the same general direction as the strike of the 
schists, and with a general dip to the north, varying from 45 de- 
grees to the perpendicular. Around these schists are the granites 
on the northwest and the succeeding sedimentary formations on 
the northeast and the tertiary formations on the southerly sides. 

Nearly all the rocks of this region, but especially the above 
mentioned schists, show strong evidence of alteration and change, 
in many instances giving an appearance entirely foreign to the 
character of rock, but an examination with an ordinary field lens 
is often sufficient to determine the true character at once. This 
altering material is usually silica, and where the rocks are weath- 
ered as on an exposed outcrop, a hard quartzose character is noted, 
and these are frequently called " dykes," but are simply altered 
schists and frequently carry gold values. Dykes occur in these 
schists, especially at the old Miner's Delight mine at Peabody 
Hill, where diorite and diabase dykes are noted; at the Mary Ellen 
Hill, near Atlantic; at the Carissa at South Pass, and along the 
northwesterly edge of the schist in the vicinity of the Little Joe, 
and at Gold Creek. 

At the Miner's Delight dykes of porphyritic material are no- 
ted, and these extend to the "Rustler belt," north of Atlantic City, 
where the Mormon Crevice and Poiree estate properties have pro- 
duced very rich ore. 

The Carissa Mine at South Pass — This property, located in 
1867, has been a phenomenal producer for many years, and de- 
velopment work is being carried on at the present time. The de- 
velopment consists of some 2,300 feet of drifting, etc., with 
a shaft 384 feet deep; following the dip to the vein, equipped with 
hoist and necessary appliances for handling the ore. The Carissa 
ore occurs in quartz lenses, lying in the schist, having the same dip 
and strike as the schist, and these lenses occur at irregular inter- 
vals. 




Some of the Beautiful Scenes during the 1807 Carnival at Sheridan, Wyoming. 



MINERAL RESOURCES 81 

Associated with the quartz lenses are bodies of mineralized 
schist, carrying pay values in gold, and lying between or near the 
lenses have been found schist ores of very high grade, but with the 
usual intervals of lower grade material in the same ore. 

Until recently the development of these ores has been carried 
on on the high grade lenses only and the low grade ores practically 
ignored, owing to lack of facilities for treating them profitably, but 
(luring the past year a cross-cut has been run west from the lower 
or 400 level and the occurrence condition of these low grade ores 
determined. This cross-cut is 180 feet long and cut through a 
series of quartz lenses and schist leads, which were found to vary 
in value from a trace to $50 per ton gold, but the free condition 
remained unchanged as in the other parts of the mine. Tests on 
this work showed an average mill value of $6 per ton the whole 
length of 180 feet, 

This is the most important work accomplished in the district 
for many years, as it demonstrates the existence of great bodies 
of low grade ore capable of treatment on a large scale and indicates 
the course to be pursued in the other mines of the district, 

In the upper portion of the Carissa workings the usual oxid- 
ized ores were found, and these were very rich, as shown by the 
early history of the mine. As development proceeded the oxidized 
ores passed out and the sulphide forms came in, being mostly ar- 
senical pyrites, but experience in milling these ores has shown the 
free gold character of the ore still pertains, and on the lower level 
from 60 per cent, to 90 per cent, of the gold values may be saved 
on the plates and ore is frequently met with that shows free gold 
associated with the pyrites, both in the quartz and adjacent 
schists. The ore is being treated in a ten-stamp mill, with amal- 
gamating plates and concentrating tables. 

The Dexter "Works at Atlantic — Atlantic City is the working 
headquarters of the Dexter Mining and Development Company 
of Rochester, N. Y. They have recently added to their original 
large holdings and hold the Tabor Grand, the Bryan and the Dexter 
Tunnel, besides a number of smaller works. 

This company holds placer ground on Rock Creek, consisting 
of 1,600 acres of patented placer ground, and controls the whole 
bed of Rock Creek to its junction with the Sweetwater River, 
about 3,000 acres of placer claims held by location in the usual 
manner. The Dexter Company has made extensive tests in the 
bed of this creek by hydraulic elevators and other mechanical 
means for handling the gravel, and expect to put in dredges as the 
result of these experiments. The water for this work is secured 
from Christina Lake and Rock Creek by a system of about twenty- 
five miles of ditches, flumes, etc. An interesting feature of these 



82 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

experiments is the high assays obtained from the black sand after 
the placer gold has been taken out, the remaining sand assaying 
from $400 to $800 per ton. 

A new mill has been erected by the Dexter Company at a 
point on Rock Creek just below Atlantic to treat both their own 
and custom ores, extensive experiments having been made during 
the past year to determine the best method of treatment. This 
mill is of 150-ton capacity, using twenty 1,050-pound stamps, with 
amalgamating plates and having complete cyanide department for 
saving values other than free gold. 

The Miners' Delight Mine has been reopened by United States 
Senator CD. Clark of Wyoming and associates. This mine was 
famous forty years ago as a producer of the highest grade of spec- 
imen free gold ore, when the "Sweetwater mines" were famous as 
Goldfield today, and produced an unknown amount of gold, as the 
then owners simply gophered where the gold was the thickest, and 
paid no attention to any ores except the specimen rock, that made 
the mine famous. Later some serious attempts were made to open 
up the mine, but were abandoned, and the property lay idle for 
many years, to be taken up now by Senator Clark and his friends. 

It has been supposed that all the ore came from one shoot, on 
one vein, but the recent work has shown conclusively that there 
are a number of veins, centering at this point, several of which 
were cut into, but the main body of the rich ore came from the 
surface cuts and shallow slopes from the first shafts, and the ore 
milled from a cross-vein, which occurs apparently independent 
of the other veins noted here. No attempt has been made, until 
now, to develop the low grade milling ores lying with the richer 
shoots, and, in common with the other South Pass mines, these 
are beginning to receive attention, and will evidently prove the 
real ores of this section. The entire problem at the Miners' Delight 
is most interesting, and bears every evidence of working out into a 
great gold mine, as the veins are strong and well defined, the ore 
shoots have been large, and work done at the Carissa and other 
mines on these ores has demonstrated that these ores continue with 
depth, the values are permanent, and there is every probability 
that the ores of the Miners' Delight will do the same and a really 
great producer be listed from Wyoming at last. 

The Burton-McGraff property has been taken over by Denver 
capitalists, and, under the direction of Frank Reinhard, is being- 
opened up previous to a thorough exploiting. This property lies 
on the other side of Peabody Hill from the Miners' Delight, and 
many of the conditions of the two properties are quite similar, and 
good results may be expected. 

Until recently the ores of this section have been thought to be 



MINERAL RESOURCES 83 

only gold ores, with the greater part of the values in the free gold 
form, and the unoxidized ores, reported from the deeper workings, 
have always been associated with iron and arsenical pyrites, but 
there are several new properties where the gold is associated with 
copper minerals, and at the Copper Surprise, near South Pass City, 
a well denned copper-bearing ledge is being exploited and commer- 
cial copper values obtained. In addition to this evidence, it now 
appears that in many of the old properties which produced gold 
and were only worked for high grade ores in the surface shoots, 
frequently copper has been the mineral associated with the 
gold ores, but was not considered of value at that time and no 
attention was paid to it or how it occurred, so there is ground for 
the belief of a number of engineers, now concerned in the develop- 
ment of properties here, that the carrying mineral of the district 
may prove to be copper sulphides, when the mines are opened up 
to some considerable depth, instead of only the iron and arsenical 
sulphides, now noted throughout the district. 

Lewiston — At this camp, which was opened up in 1879, when 
the famous Burr mine was discovered, development has been slow 
for the past few years but is beginning to revive, and the Burr 
mine is being opened up by the Lewiston Gold M. & M. Company. 
During the present season this company will put in a complete new 
plant of machinery and begin active work in reopening the old 
workings and pushing new development work as rapidly as pos- 
sible. It is their intention to devote every attention to the low 
grade ores which are known to lie adjacent to the rich gold streaks 
which made the Burr famous, and to install mills for the treatment 
of this ore as soon as its extent is demonstrated. Prospecting is 
again active, and a number of lenses of quartz have been found on 
Strawberry Gulch, which show the characteristic free gold condi- 
tion of the Burr and other famous properties. 

Production — The amount of gold produced from twenty- 
eight properties in this district since its discovery is $3,728,000. 
The gold taken from the great placers in the early days of the dis- 
trict, before anyone thought of statistics, can onlv be estimated 
and is placed at from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. In this locality 
at the present time there are fifteen properties working, employing 
one hundred men. 

There are fifty meritorious properties in the South Pass Dis- 
trict that would pay handsomely on the development expenditure, 
and it is certain that this district will be heard from as a gold pro- 
ducer in the next few years. 

Other Gold Camps, 

The other gold producing districts in the state are scattered. 



84 THE STATE OP WYOMING 

At Centennial, Gold Hill and Jelm Mountain, in Albany Coun- 
ty, there are a number of properties working for gold alone. 

The building of the Laramie, Hahns Peak and Pacific Railroad 
to Centennial has been of great assistance to the mining interests 
of this locality and a number of mills are projected for the present 
season. South of this section the Lake Creek properties are again 
active and more development is in progress than for a number of 
years. The Keystone Mine at Keystone in this vicinity has been re- 
opened by English capitalists, a new mill and plant installed and 
a production record is expected this year. 

Returns of gold working properties are received from the 
Sunlight mines, in Big Horn County; from Kirwin, on the head of 
Wood River, and the South Fork of the Shoshone River, in the 
same county. 

Lode mining has been active in eastern Crook County, near 
Welcome, where the formations are fine grained schists, granites, 
etc., with some intrusions of trachite and allied rocks, overlaid 
near the side rim of the uplift with limestone and succeeding sedi- 
mentary rocks. 

Copper Mountain — Copper Mountain is a low range lying be- 
tween Shoshoni and Thermopolis on the eastern side of the Big 
Horn River in Fremont County, and is being actively opened up 
as a gold and copper producer. Free gold is found in many of the 
properties, notably at the Williams-Luman mine at Depass on the 
eastern end of the district, where the gold streak occurs as a part 
of a huge ledge carrying native and oxidized copper ores on the 
surface. This mine is described in detail under the head of " Cop- 
per" in this pamphlet. 

The Hale property, near Birdseye, a gold property, is devel- 
oped by tunnels, and a considerable ore reserve amounting to some 
forty thousand tons of ore has been blocked out. On this showing 
a stamp mill has been erected and will be supplemented by a cy- 
anide plant for tailings treatment as soon as practicable in the 
spring. Flattering reports are received from credible sources in 
other parts of the district, and a separate bulletin is to be issued 
on this location as soon as the data are completed. 

The formation of Copper Mountain is generally given as gran- 
ite with ledges of schist carrying the ore, and with veins and bodies 
of quartz heavily mineralized. Much of the ore reported is of high 
grade, but the best opinions available agree that the main ores of 
this district will be of low grade, occurring in large bodies. 

Willow Creek — Willow Creek is a new district now being 
opened up west of Thermopolis in the Owl Creek Mountains. This 
territory has only recently been available for prospecting, and 
conditions are similar to those of Copper Mountain. Some fine 



MINERAL RESOURCES 85 

surface showings of both gold and copper are found in these ores. 
Details have not yet been made public. 

During the past year a number of gold finds have been made 
in the granite hills that lie north of the Sweetwater River, east of 
Rongis, in Fremont County, and some high grade free gold ores 
returned. The formation is granite with huge ledges of miner- 
alized schist with some quartz associated with the minerals con- 
tained. This is an entirely new district and is easy of access from 
central Wyoming points. 



SOME OF THE PLACERS. 

Douglas Creek, in Albany County, is one of the principal 
streams of the Medicine Bow Mountains, and has been noted for 
the placer gold found in it since the first history of mining in that 
section. Gold was first found here in Moore's Gulch, one of the 
tributaries of Douglas Creek, in 1868, and for many years every 
gulch in this district was worked by primitive methods with profit. 
Platinum is found in the placer sands here and recently remark- 
ably high values have been found in the "black sands" of these 
creeks through experiments conducted under the United States 
Geological Survey. 

Recently these placers have all been attracting the attention 
of mining men and a complete mechanical plant has been in- 1 
stalled on the holdings of the Douglas Consolidated Placer Mining 
Co., to work these gravels by mechanical means under the imme- 
diate charge of experienced hydraulic engineers, and the results of 
this plant are being watched very closely by the whole district. 

Other placers on Douglas Creek which have shown high values 
are the Home placers; the Albany placers which are being opened 
up and worked by the American Gold Placer Mining Company of 
Cheyenne, who are installing machinery and expect to make a 
production record during the season of 1908. 

The Spring Creek and Lake Creek placers and a dozen smaller 
properties lie on the tributary creeks of Douglas Creek and have 
production records of the past, but were only worked on a small 
scale. 

In the southern part of Carbon County, placers are worked 
on Snake River, and in Crook County the placers of the old Nigger 
Hill section are worked at intervals. 

Recently a number of placer finds have been made in the 
sands of Wind River near Shoshoni, in Fremont County, and some 
very high values have been obtained. 

A number of placer works are scattered along the waters of the 



86 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

streams in the Wind River and Owl Creek Mountains in Fremont 
and Big Horn Counties and Gros Ventre in Uinta County. 

In Sheridan County the Gold Standard M. M. <% I. Company 
are developing 500 acres of placer along the Little Big Horn River, 
and in the Big Horn Mountains, west of Sheridan, some properties 
have been worked for gold in the cement deposits on Bald Moun- 
tain. 

Small placers are well known in Carbon, Albany, Big Horn 
and Fremont Counties, and thousands of dollars have been taken 
out in the past. 

COPPER DISTRICTS. 

Grand Encampment District. 

The district popularly known as the "Grand Encampment" 
country lies in the southern part of Carbon County and the south- 
western corner of Albany County, south of the main line of* the 
Union Pacific railroad. 

Mining has been carried on in this region from the earliest 
known period of the state's settlement, but the first permanent 
work was in 1872 in the Kurtz-Chatterton property on Copper 
Creek, west of where Encampment now stands. It was not until 
1897-8 that the district became prominent by reason of some rich 
gold ores found in Purgatory Gulch, a small tributary of the South 
Fork of the Grand Encampment River, and the town of Grand 
Encampment was started. 

The discovery of the Ferris-Haggarty copper mine on the 
North Fork of Battle Creek followed in the winter of 1898, and at- 
tention was then turned to copper, with the result that the region 
is being thoroughly exploited and is becoming a permanent copper 
producer. 

The district is somewhat irregular in shape. The tract em- 
braced in the known mineralized country extends along the Wyo- 
ming-Colorado line, easterly and westerly, for a distance of about 
eighty miles, and northerly and southerly for a distance of from 
fifteen miles at Encampment to forty miles at Elk Mountain, near 
Saratoga, comprising about 2,000 square miles of mountain and 
valley. 

The North Platte River, which rises in Colorado, in this local- 
ity flows northwesterly and divides the district into two distinct 
halves, with a valley some fifteen miles wide lying between and 
watered by numerous tributary streams on either side. Parallel 
with the river are mountain ranges on either side, that on the east 
being known as the Medicine Bow Range, and with this range a 



MINERAL RESOURCES 87 

series of approximately parallel or connected smaller ranges, such 
as Elk, Coad and Wood Mountains. 

On the west is the Sierra Madre Range, composed of a number 
of similar ranges, known by various local names, and these form 
part of the great Continental Divide. 

Geology — The Sierra Madre Mountains consist of an irregular 
core of granite, with smaller islands and spurs of the same material 
showing both in and through the associated metamorphic forma- 
tions. The granite is usually of a reddish feldsitic variety, in many 
instances much altered, and showing little quartz or mica, but in 
others showing a predominance of quartz, inclining to the gray 
granites of Colorado, and frequently showing strong evidences of 
metamorphism, especially in the outcrops, and which is usually 
limited in extent. 

The metamorphic formations consist principally of Algon- 
kian schists, usually lying on the granites and having a varying 
dip and trend or direction in different parts of the district. These 
schists are of a number of varieties, some of which are local or lim- 
ited in extent, the usual schist being a fine grained black mica 
schist, and a fine hornblende and tourmaline schist in bands vary- 
ing from a few feet to several hundred feet in width. Associated 
with these varieties have been noted muscovite or white mica 
schists, and gneiss, cerisite schist, garnet schist on Upper Cow 
Creek, chlorite schist and amphibolite schist in various localities. 

The dyke rocks noted are mainly diorites, some diabase and 
allied dark colored dyke rocks. These d} T kes vary in size from a 
thin band a few inches thick to a huge sheet of several hundred 
feet in thickness, and general^ lie conformably with the adjacent 
schist, having the same trend or direction and the same dip, but 
instances are noted, as on Upper Cow Creek and near the Syndi- 
cate on Savery Creek, where the dykes cut across the formation 
at a varying angle. These dykes are also noted at many places 
in the granite near the New Rambler on Douglas Creek and near 
Encampment and Battle. 

Associated with the schists and diorites are ledges or bands 
of quartzite, which lie conformably with the including schists, as 
far as now known, as at the Ferris-Haggarty mine and at Bridge r 
Peak, and are usually of considerable extent. 

In many instances the foregoing rocks (schists, dyke rocks 
and quartzites) often show an extensive and sometimes a complete 
metamorphism and change from their original condition and com- 
position, leaving only the structure as a means of identification, 
the composing minerals being replaced by silica and lime, as the 
schists near the Ferris-Haggarty are largely replaced by silica and 
by lime on Jack Creek and at the Mohawk, on the North Fork of 
the Grand Encampment River. 



88 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

The Snowy Range, in the Medicine Bow Mountains, is dis- 
tinct in formation from the adjacent country, and consists of tra- 
chite and quartzites, with an occasional dyke of porphyry. 

On either side of the Medicine Bow Range the carboniferous 
limestones are noted, with the succeeding sedimentary formation 
dipping away from the main range until covered by the wash of 
the valley. 

Ore Deposits and Ores — In a district as little developed as the 
Grand Encampment country it is evident that the precise ore con- 
ditions may not be fully understood until greater depths have 
been reached and some of each class of ores and ore deposits fully 
exploited. At present these are understood to consist of two 
classes, viz., ores found in the hard, unchanged formation, the 
diorites and unaltered schists, associated with a vein quartz, as at 
the Blakeslee and Verde properties, south of Battle, as distin- 
guished from the ores found as a contact deposit between two dif- 
ferent formations, as the Ferris-Haggarty, Doane-Rambler mines, 
and a fissure deposit, as the New Rambler, on Douglas Creek, in 
a gray granite. The former may be termed original ores, and the 
latter secondary ores, or ores of replacement. 

In the first case sulphide of copper is found in the outcrops, 
and with but little change beyond the surface oxidizing of the spec- 
imen and staining the adjacent rock with iron oxides and copper 
carbonates, often leaving the unchanged sulphides only covered 
by a thin film of oxides. 

In the latter case the sulphides are encountered at "water 
level," viz., the level of permanent underground water, varying 
in depth in different localities and covered by a capping of iron 
oxides known as the iron cap and the "gossan 7 ' of the Cornish 
miner. 

The principal ores are the yellow pyrites of copper or chalco- 
pyrite and "peacock copper" or Bornite, as at the Ferris-Haggarty, 
and the Covellite ores of the New Rambler. Some phenomenally 
rich copper glance or chalcolite has been struck, mostly near the 
surface. 

Gold and silver values throughout the district have uniformly 
been low, although some phenomenally rich gold values have been 
noted in the oxidized ores at Purgatory Gulch, the Charter Oak 
and some others, but with more attention being paid to this by- 
product, a higher grade may be anticipated in the future. 

Grand Encampment — This town is the terminus of the Sar- 
atoga and Encampment R. R. and the practical center of the 
mining activity of this region. It is pleasantly located, substan- 
tially built and has about 1,000 population at the present time. 
Here are located the principal supply houses, bank and headquar- 



MINERAL RESOURCES 89 

ters of the principal companies operating in this district, and is the 
eastern terminus of the aerial gravity tramway from the Ferris- 
Haggarty mine to the Encampment reduction works, the location 
of the Encampment Power and Light Company's works and the 
other enterprises owned by the Penn-Wyoming Copper Company. 

Aerial Tramway — The tramway is sixteen miles in length, 
divided into four sections, with three auxiliary power stations, one 
at the mine, one at Upper Cow Creek at the foot of Bridger Peak, 
and one at Lower Cow Creek. These stations are equipped with 
power plants, storage bins, etc., to facilitate the operations of the 
line. Three hundred and four towers, with tension stations at 
intervals, are used to support the cables, which, moving at an 
average speed of four miles an hour, with buckets holding 700 
pounds of ore each, are capable of delivering 984 tons of ore per 
day. 

Encampment Redaction Works — In March, 1906, the old 
concentrator was destroyed by fire and the present mill erected 
in its place on a larger scale and greatly improved in every way. 
The mill is built in two sections, so that only half the works need 
be idle for repairs at one time and the whole scheme of working is 
automatic as far as possible, gravity being utilized to aid the sepa- 
ration wherever a fall can be obtained. 

The ore from the receiving bins passes through a huge Blake 
crusher to an elevator, thence to revolving screens, the oversize 
passing to roughing rolls and to a conveyor which carries the 
entire mass to the storage bins. From these bins the ore goes to 
two immense Hancock jigs, capacity 700 tons each per day, for 
coarse and fine material, the coarse, oversized ore passing through 
two pairs of grinding rolls, thence to twelve No. 5 Wilfley tables 
for further concentration. A portion goes to regrinding rolls and 
the fine material, or slimes, goes on through the slime department 
for final treatment. 

The smelting end of the works has been entirely rebuilt since 
the fire of March, 1906, and is now producing blister copper as 
usual. 

The completion of the Saratoga & Encampment Railroad to 
Encampment has completely changed the situation here relating 
to mining and the allied industries and the production of copper at 
a commercial rate is now a certainty for this district in the future. 

Battle — Towards Battle the Copper Rock Company is sinking 
on veins of red iron oxides in schists and quartzite. This same 
condition is noted on the Hidden Treasure and Gertrude proper- 
ties, and at intervals shows copper stains both in the capping and 
quartz. 



90 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

On the Portland mine, owned by the Battle Lake Copper 
Mining Company, work has been active. Open cuts and shafts 
have been opened along the vein, following it west and down the 
hill to Battle Creek, where a tunnel was started to follow the vein 
east into the mountain. At thirty-five feet from the portal the 
vein was encountered, which at this point shows gold and copper 
ore of workable grade and quantity. The tunnel has since been 
run a distance of over 400 feet. Open cuts and shafts have been 
sunk along the vein for a distance of about 2,000 feet and show 
ore of good grade. Recent rich finds are reported in tunnel cross 
cuts. 

The Cow Creek country along the tramway line is again ac- 
tive. The territory lying south of Battle has been especially 
active, and the Itmay mine, owned principally by Wyoming cap- 
italists, has opened up a large showing of copper ore. This com- 
pany has been quietly working for a number of years, sunk a shaft 
some 350 feet on the ore in the vein, and further developed the 
property by a tunnel connecting with the main shaft. A recent 
extension of this tunnel work has opened up an additional quantity 
of ore and the property may be made a producer at any time. 

South of Itmay, the Century Copper Mining Company has 
acquired extension of the Verde property and is developing a show- 
ing. At Three Forks, near the Colorado line, the Pease properties 
have been acquired by the Three Forks Mining Company, and an 
active development campaign inaugurated. 

During the coming summer machinery for deep work will be 
installed on this property, and the present promising showings 
will be fully demonstrated. 

Doane-Rambler Mine — This mine has been acquired by the 
Penn- Wyoming Copper Company, and will be re-opened at once 
to produce ores for the new smelter at Encampment. A branch 
tramway is to be built from the nearest station and the work com- 
pleted as soon as possible. This is the oldest Operating mine in 
the district and has a production record for high grade ores, but 
until now no attempt has been made at regular shipments. 

There is a complete mechanical plant at the Doane, the mine 
being operated through a main tunnel connected with a six hun- 
dred foot shaft, drifts being run at intervals and the ore body 
pretty well exposed, especially on the 400, 500 and 600-foot levels, 
which have shown large bodies of ore of a concentrating grade. 

Ferris-Haggarty Mine — This is the main producing property 
of the district/has produced over $4,000,000 since it was opened 
up, and is the main source of ore supply for the Encampment 
smelter. 

The vein is a contact deposit between schist and quartzite, 



MINERAL RESOURCES 91 

showing a series of ore bodies varying in length up to 250 feet and 
in width from fifteen feet to forty feet. The ore is bornite and 
chalcopyrite, and the grade varies from a 35 to 40 per cent, ship- 
ping ore to a 6 and 8 per cent, concentrating ore, the latter pre- 
dominating. 

Originally the property was worked by shaft and hoist, but 
a working tunnel has been run in at the lowest practicable level 
(giving about 500 feet depth on the dip of the vein) and a com- 
plete plant installed at the mouth of the tunnel. The ore is 
stoped out by machine drills, thrown into chutes, run to the tun- 
nel level and hauled out by compressed air haulage, seven cars to 
a train, and run directly into the tramway ore bins and thence to 
the smelter sixteen miles away. 

A hoist has been installed at the tunnel level and a winze 
sunk below this level, where drifts are being run on the ore and 
an active campaign opened for the production of ore during the 
coming season, which opens about May and closes December 15 
following. 

Dillon Vicinity — Work around Dillon is very active this 
year, the Anchoria, Jackpot, Independence, Pluto and Osh- 
kosh- Wyoming Companies being especially prominent. The Con- 
go property has developed steadily and makes a fine showing. 
The Bachelder has improved the plant and shaft. Work has also 
been active on the Octavia, Home Run and a dozen others. The 
Echo property is especially interesting and promising, as a shaft 
is being sunk on a capping of iron oxides, identical with that of 
the Ferris-Haggarty, but lying with schist foot-wall and quartzite 
hanging wall, where the Haggarty has a quartzite foot-wall and 
schist hanging-wall. 

The Syndicate property on Savery Creek is working on a 
contact between an altered schist and diorite dykes. Considerable 
copper ore of good grade has been taken out. 

In Purgatory Gulch, situated six miles south of Encampment, 
in 1897 some remarkably rich gold specimens were found, and 
formed the basis of the excitement which has developed into the 
Grand Encampment Copper District. 

The Cox mine, on Big Creek, has produced some remarkable 
high grade copper ore, and several shipments have been made from 
it. 

The Two Toms mine on Beaver Creek, south of Encampment, 
in running a tunnel cut at a depth of 500 feet a large dike heavily 
mineralized on the surface, and which shows good copper values. 
This will be the deepest working in this vicinity and is an important 
work for this entire south part of the district. 

The Charter Oak is one of the oldest properties in the district, 



92 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

and is located seven miles north of Encampment, in the northern 
edge of the foothills, Ores consist of sulphides in lower and ox- 
idized in upper levels. 

This mine has been re-opened and new shafts sunk, the ore 
shown up on the lower levels and a great deal of ore exposed. A 
tunnel is being driven from a point on Calf Creek, on the vein and 
ores for a length of 2,280 feet, and will cut the ores shown in the 
shafts at a depth of 250 feet, making an immense body of ore 
blocked out as soon as the tunnel is completed, at which time a 
reduction works will be built. 

Elk Mountain* 

This is the most northerly of the ranges comprising the Med- 
icine Bow Range in Wyoming, and is a later uplift than the Sierra 
Madre, on the west side of the Platte. Here the sedimentary lime- 
stones of the Carboniferous period lie on the schists and granites 
of the earlier formations, and at the Elk Mountain M. & M. Com- 
pany's property, on the north side of Pass Creek, the ore is found 
near the contact of these formations. This ore, in the upper 
workings, is copper glance, occurring in the bunches common to 
this ore, and in the lower workings is giving place to the chalco- 
pyrite, which is becoming more common as depth is reached. 

The Elkhorn property, on Elk Mountain, has attracted atten- 
tion as here the work done has been on copper showings, adjacent 
to the contact of the granites and the overlying sedimentary 
formations. These works are exceptionally interesting as they 
will demonstrate whether these contacts are commercially mineral- 
ized and worth following up, not only in the up-mountain region 
but on a number of similar isolated mountains throughout the 
state. 

New Rambler Mine. 

The Great Rambler Mine is owned by the Rambler Mining 
and Smelting Company, is located on the crest of the Medicine 
Bow Range, in Albany County, and was first opened up as a gold 
prospect. In 1900 the first copper was struck at a depth of sixty- 
five feet, and the mine began immediately to ship high grade cop- 
per ore. The formation containing the copper is a dioritic gran- 
ite, with some micaceous schist in the vicinity, but the ore is found 
in a series of fissures in the granite. In common with the other 
prominent properties in southern Wyoming, the surface and out- 
crops of the property show the usual oxidized forms of iron, with 
an occasional copper stain. The "iron hat/' as this capping is 
called, extends to a varying depth and gives place to the various 



MINERAL RESOURCES 93 

forms of copper minerals met with in this mine. The Rambler is 
a veritable museum of copper minerals, and nearly all the known 
forms have been found here either in quantity or as specimens. 
Native copper is noted in sheets often of a dendritic form and as 
small nuggets. Copper carbonates, green and blue, are abundant, 
as well as the silicates of copper. The red oxide of copper Cu- 
prite, and the black oxides, Tenorite and Malaconite, are noted 
in quantity. Covellite, or "indigo copper," is the ore that made 
this mine famous, as this variety has always been a rare form, and 
seldom, if ever, found in the quantity in which it occurs in this 
mine; the only small specimens of this variety are usually found 
in the different museums of minerals. Platinum has been found 
in the Rambler ores, occurring in the Covellite and showing 1.4 
oz. of platinum per ton of ore. Palladium has also been noted in 
these ores in the Covellite ores with the platinum. The grade of 
ore at this property has been high and a number of cars of very 
high grade ore have been shipped, especially that containing the 
glance and Covellite. These shipments show 1,928 dry tons of 
ore shipped, averaging 19 per cent, copper and representing a 
gross value of $77,622. The general grade of the oxidized ores is 
low, and to treat these ores a matte smelter of forty tons per day 
capacity has been installed. The matte made and shipped is 
given as follows: Six hundred and thirteen thousand pounds matte, 
249,196 pounds copper, $36,135.41 values. The grade of matte 
shipped varied from 30 to 60 per cent, copper and the total amount 
of copper produced to date is 828,970 pounds. 

Southeast of the Rambler lies the Lake Creek country where 
the Topeka Copper Co. have been steadily developing their hold- 
ings and this winter have opened up a promising showing. The 
Maudem property, the Osceola and Cuprite are all promising pro- 
perties which have responded to development w T ith a satisfactory 
ore showing and should become producers during the coming sea- 
son. 

Another important work, that is demonstrating a theory 
which means much to Wyoming, is that of the Shawnee Consol- 
idated Mining Company, on French Creek, about twenty-five miles 
east of Encampment, in the Medicine Bow Range. Here there is 
an occurence of a huge ledge, showing oxidized iron on the surface, 
lying between a schist and a quartzite, and with an occasional small 
showing of copper at various points along its length. The Shawnee 
Company has sunk a shaft to a depth of 210 feet and has passed 
through the oxidized condition and into a mass of iron sulphides 
and pyrhotite. For some distance these minerals were apparently 
barren of all copper, but at a greater depth, small showings of 
copper began to appear as streaks and specks in the pj^rhotite, and 



94 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

small pebbles of quartz, of a peculiar, bright, lively tint, came in 
also, and at the present depth, both the quartz and copper sul- 
phides are markedly on the increase as depth is gained, indicating 
that the original theory was entirely correct, and that these ledges 
in the Wyoming ranges carry huge bodies of low-grade commercial 
copper ores. 

Similar ledges exist in many parts of the state, especially at 
Laramie Peak, in Albany, Laramie and Converse Counties, where 
the Three Cripples mine shows the same condition, also the Maggie 
Murphy property, near by, the recent work on the former showing 
a great deal of copper in the pyrhotite, which was barren at the 
surface. The Laramie Peak region shows a number of these huge 
ledges, and it only awaits the demonstration of deep ores by one 
property to cause general development, as a number of mining 
people are watching developments very narrowly. 

The Strong Mine, northeast of Laramie, has developed stead- 
ily. A shaft house and hoist have been erected and the develop- 
ment work in the main shafts and drifts on the ore has shown up 
a remarkable body of concentrating ore. 

The Strong shaft has reached a depth of 350 feet and is the 
deepest work in the Laramie Hills. It has conclusively demon- 
strated that the ores of this section are not surface ores and the 
bodies opened show that the ore increases in gold values with 
depth, also, that blind shoots are to be expected in these deposits 
and are of equal grade. A plant is to be erected at the Strong and 
made a producer. 

The camp of Silver Crown lies south of the Strong and here 
are a number of good properties ready to produce copper and gold 
as soon as a proper reduction works is erected. The Louise mine 
shows eleven feet of copper ore at 160 feet and four feet of this is 
of smelting grade. 

Sunlight Mining District. 

Sunlight Basin, in Big Horn County, is attracting the atten- 
tion of miners and prospectors, and considerable work is being 
done around Stinking Water Peak, one of the prominent peaks of 
the Absaroka Range. This region is located about sixty-five miles 
west and north of Cody, on the Burlington and Missouri River 
railroad, in the Yellowstone Park Timber Reserve, and about ten 
or fifteen miles east of the east line of the National Park. 

The formations here are mostly andesites, rhyolites and por- 
phyry. Diorite is also noted in some localities; basalt and con- 
glomerates, both in massive sheets and dykes, are found. 

Almost all the prospecting up to the present time has been in 
the vicinity of Stinking Water Peak, in an area of about six or 



MINERAL RESOURCES 95 

seven miles square, covering the heads of Sulphur, Copper and 
Galena Creeks and the North Fork of the Shoshone River. 

The works of the Sunlight Mining Company, in Silver Tip 
Basin, are the principal works of the region, and consist of three 
tunnels, 100 feet, 250 feet and 900 feet long, respectively, the lat- 
ter being the main working tunnel, being run to cut an ore body 
that shows a surface width of about thirty feet of good grade ore. 
The ore from these works is a quartzose vein matter, carrying cop- 
per and iron sulphides, mostly chalcopyrite or yellow pyrites of 
copper, with a fair value in gold and silver. Some galena or lead 
sulphide is also found, which is often rich in silver. Shipments 
have been made from this property and showed a profitable return 
even in the face of a wagon haul of one hundred miles to the nearest 
railroad point at Red Lodge, Montana, after being packed for four 
miles down to the road from the mines. 

On Sulphur Creek work has been steadily pushed by the 
Winona G. G. M. & M. Company, who have installed an air com- 
pressor and mechanical plant at their tunnel on Sulphur Creek 
and are equipped to prospect at a considerable depth the ores 
indicated by promising outcrops along the ridges. This company 
has been working here for a couple of years, and has done more 
systematic surface prospecting than any other company, and 
there is every reason to believe that the deeper workings will 
demonstrate the existence of large bodies of commercial ore, as 
indicated by the surface showings developed by this surface pros- 
pecting. This and other development works are forging steadily 
ahead, and the results are being watched with interest by the 
whole district. 

This region is favorably adapted for tunnel methods of min- 
ing, and thus prospecting may be carried on at all times and sea- 
sons, the winters being no more severe than in many of the mining- 
regions of Colorado. 

The new camp of Kirwin, lying seventy-five miles southwest 
of Cody, has made wonderful strides and is advancing at the pres- 
ent time. The Galena Ridge M. & M. Company, Shoshone Moun- 
tain Mining Company and others have been developing a large 
number of claims here for the past eight years, doing prospecting 
and improvement work where necessary, and have reached the 
point of permanent development. Mechanical plants are installed, 
mills erected and underground development work carried forward 
under favorable auspices. 

The ores are copper and lead, carrying a higher silver and gold 
contents than is usual in this state, and the deeper works have 
shown that the values may confidently be expected to continue 
and improve with depth. 



96 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

Further south, toward Washakie Needle and the Wind River 
Range, are a number of promising prospects and a vast territory 
to hear from. This, with the mountains of these chains in Uinta 
and Fremont Counties, is the most available new and undeveloped 
mining country in the west, and is certain to be the scene of many 
rich discoveries within the next few years. 

Copper Mountain— The eastern extension of the Owl Creek 
Range, known as Copper Mountain, bears every evidence that it 
will become a producer of commercial copper within a short time. 
The Willi ams-Luman mine at Depass on the eastern end of the 
mountain has opened up an enormous ore body, and the active 
development of this find is now in progress. The ledge may be 
traced for a length of about 4,500 feet and the ore shows up in a 
series of surface works where the usual oxidized copper minerals 
are found. A tunnel has been run, cutting this ledge at a depth 
of 220 feet, and the ore shown to be over 85 feet wide, with some 
still lower grade ores adjacent which have not been thoroughly 
explored. A shaft has been sunk from this tunnel level and has 
now reached a depth of 120 feet, showing practically the* same 
condition of ore as prevailed in the tunnel. The raise has been 
started to the surface above for air, which will give actual devel- 
opment on the ore for 320 feet. So far the principal ore is native 
copper, occurring in thin sheets and nuggets throughout the ore 
mass, but with the addition of some tetrahedrite or grey copper 
found in the shaft. 

Cross-cutting is now in progress from the bottom of the shaft 
to further prove these showings. The formation here is granite, 
with the ore occurring in a crushed and fissured diorite, much 
altered and almost unrecognizable in some instances. The sur- 
face showing of the dike was about 50 or 60 feet wide. 

It is the intention of the owners of this property, who are 
Wyoming men, to thoroughly explore the property before attempt- 
ing shipments, and recently a contract has been made with the 
Ryan Electrolytic Copper Company to install a testing plant at 
the mine for a treatment of these ores. 

West of Copper Mountain is situated the Willow Creek Dis- 
trict, in the Owl Creek Mountains, where the formation conditions 
are similar to the former district, and a number of properties have 
equally good surface showings. This is the part of the state so 
long retained in the Indian Reservation, and is practically un- 
known land, as the formal opening took place in October, 1906, 
too late in the season for active work, and time has not been suffi- 
cient to admit of deep work or extensive proving of the promising 
surface showings noted at many points in the new district. New 
roads have been constructed from the nearest railroad points, 



MINERAL RESOURCES 97 

Shoshoni on the Wyoming & Northwestern and Thermopolis on 
the Burlington Route each about thirty-five miles distant. 

The finding of high grade copper ores at Copper Mountain, 
Willow Creek, and other points in these ranges within the past 
year is but an indicatoin of what may be expected as soon as ex- 
perienced prospectors have an opportunity to thoroughly scour 
the country. 

North of Laramie Peak, in Albany, Laramie and Converse 
Counties, work on a series of heavy iron caps is actively progress- 
ing. The formation here is schist and granite, and the principal 
showings are a series of huge oxidized iron caps lying in ledges of 
schists and gneiss and which show copper minerals in nearly every 
instance. These caps are usually immediately underlaid % pyr- 
rhotite and white iron pyrites as depth is gained, and these miner- 
als seem to be replaced by quartz and chalcopyrite or yellow py- 
rites of copper. 

Prominent properties on these showings are the Maverick, 
Tenderfoot, Three Cripples and Maggie Murphy. 

The Maggie Murphy Company is installing a machinery 
plant for deep work, and the present showings in the main shaft 
are very encouraging. 

In this vicinity, also, the Esterbrook Company has recent!}' 
completed a reorganization of its affairs, and is in shape to com- 
mence active work on its property, which has a 335-foot shaft on 
a fissure vein, showing copper and lead, and a number of side veins, 
which have been cut by the lower workings, and promise well on 
development. A mill is to be built on this property in the next 
year. Near by is the Snowbird property, held by a number of the 
Esterbrook people, who have completed plans for an active de- 
velopment campaign on a large copper-bearing ledge lying in a 
diorite-granite-schist formation of a different character from the 
other copper ledges of this locality, and which is considered as a 
very promising property for copper and gold. 

West of the above properties are the Oriole and LaBonte in 
LaBonte Canon. At LaBonte a tunnel has been run for a length 
of 550 feet, at which point the formation was cross-cut, showing a 
schist dyke highly mineralized with a width of 150 feet. A drift 
near the center of this dyke has shown a shoot of low grade of cop- 
per ores, and other shoots are expected as this development pro- 
ceeds. 

The list of promising prospects might be indefinitely continued 
in every mountain range in the state did space permit, but only 
the most prominent and best known localities are mentioned, and 
to name all would require a separate publication. 

A series of bulletins on the different minerals and mineral 



98 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

districts is being prepared and will treat fully the various camps 
and the showings made, as the present writing is but an outline of 
the whole state. 

The total copper production of Wyoming from the earliest 
record to December 31 , 1906, is as follows , the prices given being 
the average price of copper for the year: 

Year Number of Pounds Price per Pound Value 

1882 7,500 17 . 100 cents $ 12,757 . 50 

1883 962,468 13.700 cents 131,858. 11 

1888 232,819 15.900 cents 36,017.32 

1889 100,000 12.000 cents 12,000.00 

1895 6,872 11 . 101 cents 694.07 

1897 127,471 10.110 cents 14,149.28 

1898 233,044 12 . 000 cents 27,965 . 28 

1899 3,104,827 17. 100 cents 530,925.39 

1900 . . . 4,206,776 16.250 cents 683,601 .50 

1901 914,412 16.110 cents 140,909.82 

1902 75,297 11.620 cents 8,749.51 

1903 947,106 13.420 cents 127,101.62 

1904 4,220,000 12.831 cents 541,046.20 

1905 2,420,629 15.590 cents 55,376.06 

1906... 50,000 19.278 cents 9,639.00 

1907 2,350,000 20.098 cents 472,303.00 

Totals 20,046,721 $13,105,093.66 

The reopening of the smelter of the Penn- Wyoming Copper 
Company at Encampment during the latter months of the year 
made the increased production of 1907 possible and the opera- 
tion of this and the other new works now actively projected in 
some of the new camps of the state, makes an adequate copper 
production a certainty for future years. 



Oil, the Light of Ages 



When it comes to oil, Wyoming certainly bids fair to illumin- 
ate and lubricate the works of man for generations. The eighteen 
oil fields known in this state present a greater variety of product 



MINERAL RESOURCES 99 

than any similar known area, as it varies from the highest grade 
of lubricating oils without a trace of illuminating constituents to 
an equally high grade of illuminating oil totally free from lubri- 
cants, and with a range of intermediate oils and products that is a 
revelation to oil men. 

In each of the eighteen oil fields oil is flowing from springs,, or 
there are thick bands of oil sand exposed. The greater number 
of these fields are situated in the central part of the state, but 
there are fields in the northeastern portion, in the southwestern 
part, and in the northern central region. The oils that have been 
analyzed vary in nature from high grade lubricating to oils that 
will produce from 40 to 50 per cent, of kerosene. 

With proper facilities for transportation, the oil industry in 
Wyoming will equal, if not surpass, that of any other state. 

The greatest development is found in Natrona County, where 
a lubricating oil is found which has been pronounced by experts 
to be the best in the world; and in Fremont County, where there 
are thirteen flowing wells, now capped for the want of a railroad. 
At Casper there is a refinery having a capacity of 200 barrels of 
crude oil per day. The product is hauled from the wells in wag- 
ons that have a carrying capacity of 18,000 pounds, each train of 
wagons requiring twelve to sixteen mules. This greatly adds to 
the expense of production. At present the following oils are man- 
ufactured at Casper: Railroad engine, railroad car, railroad valve 
and railroad signal. These oils are the most perfect lubricants, 
of high endurance, highest fire test, and greatest body and wear- 
ing power. Besides railroad oils, the refinery manufactures other 
special high grade oils, viz.: Stationary engine, valve, spindle oils, 
dynamo oils, watch oils, neutral oils for blending animal and veg- 
etable oils, paint oil, visco axle grease, and heavy machine oil for 
mowing machines. The product of eight producing wells varies 
in value from twenty cents to one dollar and fifty cents per gallon. 

The Popo Agie Oil Field — This field is situated ten miles 
southeast of Lander, Fremont County. It covers several town- 
ships and extends north to Lander. The history of this field is far 
more interesting than any other oil field. It was discovered by 
Bonneville in 1833, and is the place where the first producing oil 
well was drilled. From the date of Bonneville's visit up to 1867 
the oil spring w 7 as unknown, except to the hunter or trapper, who 
frequented the locality to secure the oil for medicinal, lubricating, 
illuminating and other purposes. There are now thirteen flowing 
wells, with a capacity each of 200 barrels per twenty-four hours: 
owned by the Belgo-American Drilling Trust, as are also the lu- 
bricating oil wells situated on Salt Creek, with the refinery at 



100 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

Casper. The oil appears black, is reddish brown by transmitted 
light and has a strong, disagreeable odor. 

In refining the products are gasoline and kerosene, about 35- 
45 per cent., and the balance lubricating oils and asphaltum. The 
oil is of heav}^ asphaltum base and suitable for high grade fuel, 
tests giving 14,571,000 foot pounds of energy per pound of oil. 
One pound of this oil will convert 19.40 pounds of water at 212° 
F. into steam. 

Lander and Shoshone Oil Fields — The Lander field joins the 
Popo Agie on the north and the Shoshone field joins the Lander on 
the north, extending in the Wind River Indian Reservation. 
Drilling has been going on at Lander for wells to supply the Wyo- 
ming & Northwestern Railroad with fuel oil from these fields, 
tests made on the engines of this road having proven very satis- 
factory. At a point east of Fort Washakie there is a large deposit 
of asphaltum which is evidently the residue of the overflow of oil 
springs at this point, which is now being investigated with a view 
of placing it on the market, this being made possible by the near 
proximity of the railroad at Lander. 

Salt Creek Oil Field — This is the producing field of Wyoming 
mentioned in the beginning of this article and lies fifty miles 
north of Casper in Natrona County. There are fourteen produc- 
ing wells, eight of which have pumped for ten years and show as 
much oil as ever; the average depth is about 800 feet and there 
is considerable gas pressure. 

The oil is the finest natural lubricant known and contains not 
a trace of illuminating oils. 

It has properties as follows: 

Specific gravity 9105 at 60 degrees F. 

Flashing point 255 degrees F. 

Burning point 320 degrees F. 

Congealing point 17 degrees F. 

Its remarkably low congealing point and high fire test, com- 
bined with its great viscosity and freedom from tarry and gum- 
ming products render it especially valuable in railroading, and it 
is used on a number of western roads to-day. 

Uinta County Oil Fields — This district includes several fields 
—Bear River Basin, Round Mountain, Fossil, Spring Valley, Twin 
Creek, Carter and Hilliard — and has many natural advantages 
over the other districts on account of its proximity to transporta- 
tion, the Union Pacific railroad, and the points of distribution, 
Salt Lake and Ogden. 



MINERAL RESOURCES 101 

The following analysis is a fair representation of the oil from 
several fields in this district : 

Per cent. 

Naptha, 60° F. (gasoline and benzine) 27.0 

Water white kerosene, 45° Baum6, 145° flash, 172° fire test. . .25.5 

Signal and headlight, 45° Baume, 300° fire test 7.0 

Lubricating reduced stock, 23.5° Baume 40.5 



100 



The cold test of the crude oil is 58° F., and the amount of crys- 
tallized paraffin that was present in the lubricating stock is 18.5 
per cent. 

The Newcastle Oil Field — is located in the vicinity of New- 
castle, county seat of Weston County, on the Burlington railroad. 

This petroleum is similar in composition to the Salt Creek oils 
and belongs to the class of heavy oils, and is not suitable for the 
production of gasoline or kerosene, although they can be obtained 
from it. Its chief value will be for lubricating and for fuel pur- 
poses. It is, in its natural state, an excellent lubricant, has a high 
gravity and low cold test, a high viscosity and shows no paraffin 
or asphalt. This oil is also well fitted for the manufacture of gas. 

The Newcastle petroleum as represented by the samples taken 
from the pit of Eagle Spring has a specific gravity of .9168 (22.8° 
Baume). It flashes at 122° C. (251.6° F.) and takes fire at 153 C. 
(307.4° F.). The odor is not disagreeable, and for many purposes 
it could be sold as a lubricating oil in a crude state. No paraffin 
crystallizes out on cooling and little or no asphalt is left on dis- 
tilling. The viscosity at 60° F. is 29.43, using Engler's viscosi- 
meter and compared with the viscosity of water. 

The Bonanza oil field and the Cottonwood oil field are in close 
proximity to each other in Big Horn County, near the No Wood 
River, a tributary of the Big Horn. Considerable development 
has been done in this locality, and a very fine grade of illuminating 
oil has been opened up. 

Analysis of Bonanza Oil — Specific gravity, .8446 (36° Baum6). 
Color: Red; strong green fluorescence. Odor: Like Kerosene. 
Flashing point: 13° C. (55° F.). Burning point: 35° C. (95° F.). 

This petroleum will work up into the following products: 

Gasoline 20 to 25 per cent. 

Kerosene 55 to 60 per cent. 

Light lubricating oil 5 to 10 per cent. 

Paraffin 2 to 4 per cent. 

Coke and loss 4 to 6 per cent. 

At Byron and Garland in northern Big Horn County a number 



102 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

of wells have been drilled and a fine quality of illuminating oil 
has been found. Near Greybull, in Big Horn County, the Peay- 
Hill O. and E. Company have drilled some wells and opened up a 
wonderful flow of natural gas. 

Geologists who have examined this field are of the opinion 
that it is one of the greatest fields for oil and gas yet untouched- 
An active development will be prosecuted here during the coming 
year. 

The Douglas Oil Field is situated a short distance south of 
Douglas, county seat of Converse County, elevation 5,D00 feet. 
The quality of the crude oil in this section is exceptional and will 
work up into remarkable lubricating oils. 

The Oil Mountain Field is situated twenty-five miles west of 
Casper, Natrona County. This petroleum is principally valuable 
for lubricating purposes, although the most of it could be worked 
up into kerosene for open lamps, such as miners use. 

The Dtttton Oil Field is situated partly in Fremont County 
and partly in Natrona County. Many oil springs are found here 
and natural gas is quite abundant. There is practically no devel- 
opment in this district. The oil has a gravity of .927 (21° B.). 

The Belle Fourche Oil Field is situated about fifteen miles 
north of Moorcroft, on the Burlington railroad, in Crook County. 
In the early history of the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, 
needing lubricating oil for the machinery, men were employed in 
this field in collecting oil from the springs, which was transported 
by wagon to Deadwood and there sold for $28 per barrel. 

The Powder River Oil Field is located on the South Fork of 
Powder River, sixty miles northwest of Casper, county seat of 
Natrona County; fifty miles south of Buffalo, county seat of John- 
son County. There are many oil springs in this field. This is one 
of the best fields in Wyoming; the structural features are ideal. 
This petroleum is heavy and black; the odor is slight, resembling 
common kerosene, and in general character is similar to Salt Creek 
oil and the Popo Agie oil. 

The Rattlesnake and Arago Oil Fields are on the northeast 
slope of the Rattlesnake Mountains in Natrona County. Here is 
found asphaltum in sufficient quantities for commercial import- 
ance, if it were not for the lack of transportation. 

Development — The successful and profitable development 
of many of the oil fields depends largely upon the construction of 
new railway lines — an investment fully warranted by this resource 
— but there are a great many opportunities presented in many of 
the fields which are adjacent to present railway lines for profitable 
and highly remunerative development. 



AGRICULTURE 103 

In noting the different oil fields of the state, only a condensed 
statement of each has been here given, as it is the intention to issue 
a separate bulletin on the oil fields of Wyoming in the near future 
and give therein all available information. 



Agriculture 



Upon the agriculture of a region must its continued and per- 
manent prosperity depend. Poor indeed is any country which 
has no staple form of agricultural industry, and the more varied 
are its farming interests, the greater is the independence, the in- 
dustrial and financial success of its people. The conditions in 
AVyoming are so varied that it is difficult to classify them. As a 
whole the state is located in the heart of the mountain and plateau 
portion of the arid region. The average altitude of our agricul- 
tural land is about 6,000 feet above the sea. There are extensive 
and well watered plateaus between 7,000 and 8,000 feet which offer 
especial advantages for the kind of agriculture suited to them, and 
there are probably larger areas of irrigable land below 5,000 feet 
altitude than are found in any other portion of the West. The 
mean annual temperature varies from about 40° F. to 50° F., de- 
pending on the altitude and the protection of surrounding moun- 
tains. The growing season, free from frost, ranges from less than 
eighty days to more than 150 days. The annual rainfall may ex- 
ceed thirty inches in the higher mountain ranges, is seventeen 
inches to twenty-one inches in the northeast corner of the state, 
and perhaps not more than four inches on the dryest interior re- 
gion known as the Red Desert. The average annual precipita- 
tion is about twelve inches for the farming sections of the state, 
and its distribution through the year is most favorable to the 
growth of crops, as 40 per cent, to 50 per cent, of the total falls in 
the spring months, which secures the germination of seeds and 
supplies the early growth of plants before irrigation becomes nec- 
essary. 

As a whole the soils of the state are wonderfully fertile, as 
they have not been subject to leaching by heavy rainfall and con- 
tain all the plant food which was in the original rocks from which 
they are formed. Phenomenal yields are obtained on these vir- 
gin soils, and maintaining their fertility is simply a question of 
farm practice and rotation. It is neither necessary nor advisable 
to use expensive commercial fertilizers. 



104 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

The health factor in the climate cannot be excelled for man, 
animals and plants. The high quality of Wyoming stock and 
crops has received flattering recognition and tribute at every in- 
ternational exposition, and at local, state and national fairs. In 
1904, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Wyoming received 
more grand prizes and gold medals for her agricultural crops for 
her size in population than any other state, and at the 1904 Inter- 
national Stock Show at Chicago, with a single exception, Wyo- 
ming captured every prize for the northwest district. 

Development — There are few who can appreciate the new- 
ness of the western agriculture and its bearing on our develop- 
ment. Farm practices and other human institutions which have 
been worked out through an hundred or a thousand years in the 
pluvial districts have been brought into arid America and made 
general use of, regardless of the fact that they were not suited to 
conditions of climate, soil and social relationships so absolutely 
different from those in which they had become established. Re- 
gardless of this fact, our agriculture has been successful from the 
first, in that it sustains a people of continuing and increasing pros- 
perity. Thanks to the favoring factors of rich soils and salubrious 
climate, agriculture has been profitable in spite of lack of informa- 
tion and mistakes in methods, crops and laws. 

Our knowledge of so complex a business as agriculture is, of 
necessity, cumulative, and with the simple and slight beginning 
already made and the resulting success, the immediate future 
promises vastly more than can be stated or realized. 

Our first agriculture was the grazing of stock, and so remu- 
nerative was the grazing industry that Wyoming became famous 
for her grass-fed cattle, her range horses and her sheep and wool. 
With the passing of the open range and the establishment of 
ranches where increased amounts of hay and forage can be grown, 
the stock industry is steadily increasing, and there has been rapid 
improvement in the class of animals produced. 

But it is in the cultivation of the soil, both for the production 
of supplemental stock food and of salable crops, that our agricul- 
ture has developed most rapidly within the past ten years. No 
other industry has kept pace with this in growth and no other 
class of citizens have so much to show for their ten years' labor. 
Ranchmen are prosperous and are building homes worthy the 
name. With new insight into our farming and the new internal 
improvements which are now under way in the state, the present 
cheap lands under irrigation must materially advance in valua- 
tion, and new crops and new markets insure more rapid improve- 
ment in the future. In the language of the Secretary of Agricul- 
ture, there are no bad acres in this state. All are useful for some 
purpose, and with good management our irrigated lands can all be 



AGRICULTURE 105 

made to pay 10 per cent, or better on a valuation of $100 per acre. 
The next ten years will be marked by unusual activity in reclama- 
tion through irrigation, as well as extension of dry farming, which 
will double and treble both our population and our land values. 

- Several factors make our farming highly profitable. Some 
of these are, large areas of free public land, good water supply 
which can be cheaply applied to the land, large home market at 
high prices for home-grown products, unexcelled quality of both 
crops and flesh, which demands the best prices wherever they may 
be marketed, large yields from virgin arid soils and quick returns 
from crops and stock. 

High Altitude Farming — Perhaps no parts of our state are 
better adapted to the production of live stock than our extensive 
high plateaus. The rich native grasses reach perfection of growth 
on these higher lands and are more abundant and varied than on 
lower areas where the seasons are longer. We find our short sea- 
son hay is unusually rich in the flesh-forming element, nitrogen, 
and with their quick growth, grasses produce less w T oody fibre and 
are more digestible when fed to live stock than are grasses that 
take a longer time to mature. Because of the short seasons and a 
general lack of understanding about the possibilities of perfecting 
crops under these conditions, the development of general farming 
has been slow, even though at least one of the first large irrigating 
canals to be constructed was the Pioneer Canal, on the Laramie 
Plains, covering excellent lands a little more than 7,000 feet above 
sea level. In 1891 the Agricultural Experiment Station was es- 
tablished at Laramie, and the possibility of remunerative cropping 
has been fully demonstrated. Crops suitable to the season pro- 
duce large yields, and the problems are no more difficult to meet 
than those in any farming district. Alfalfa is now a successful 
staple crop up to 7,500 feet altitude. Early varieties of potatoes 
and other root crops, oats, barley, rye, wheat, spelts, flax, buck- 
wheat, peas and other things are certain crops, and mixed farming 
is beeoming established. There are still many opportunities to 
obtain cheap lands in these regions, which can be made to pay for 
themselves with a single crop. The station records show average 
yields of wheat, including all varieties tried, of over twenty-five 
bushels per acre for a period of ten years. Some maximum yields 
of other crops are, potatoes, 522 bushels per acre; alfalfa, 4^ tons; 
onions, 38,920 pounds; spelts, 72 bushels; barley and oats, more 
than 80 bushels, and many other things have given large maximum 
yields and good average returns. Three years' experiments to 
determine the cost and profit of growing wheat show an average 
net profit of more than $10 per acre, where done on a small scale 
at comparatively large expense. 

Stock Feeding — Within the past few years there has been a 



106 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

large increase in the business of feeding stock at home to prepare 
them for the eastern market. For a number of years Wyoming 
hay-fed steers have been sold for the block, and in many instances 
this beef has gone to consumers as corn-fed. At the 1904 Interna- 
tional Stock Show, in Chicago, Mr. E. J. Bell of Laramie took sec- 
ond prize on a car load of grass-fed cattle which were in competi- 
tion with the best corn-fed beef that could be produced in the corn 
belt of the east. The Experiment Station introduced the field 
pea as food for fattening lambs, and the business of fitting lambs 
for market on peas promises to become one of the most extensive 
and best paying stock industries of the state. It has been found, 
also, that combination rations of barley and alfalfa, of flax seed 
and alfalfa, with turnips or other roots, produce cheaper gains 
than corn. Stock feeding will be one of the most remunerative 
and staple occupations of our farmers. 

Low Altitude Farming — Little may be said about the possi- 
bilities of farming under irrigation where the altitude is less than 
6,000 feet. Some world-renowned crops have been authenticated t 
such as the prize yield of potatoes of 974 bushels and 48 pounds per 
acre, produced by Mr. Sturgis in Johnson County; a yield of 132 
bushels of oats produced in Sheridan County; an average of 8J 
tons of alfalfa hay per acre for three years produced on the Wheat- 
land Experiment Farm. 

Large areas are being reclaimed in Eastern Wyoming and in 
the western and northern portions of the state, where the lands lie 
from 3,500 to 5,000 feet above the sea. Many of these lands are 
so well protected by surrounding ranges of mountains that crops 
can be grown which would be too tender for other places of like lat- 
itude. These lands and water rights under the new reclamation 
projects are cheap and cannot fail to greatly increase in value 
within a short time. 

Horticulture — The gardens of the state are beginning to fur- 
nish fresh vegetables for home use. As a general indication of 
what may be done, we need only cite the fact that at altitudes of 
5,000 feet or less, peanuts, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and tobacco 
are successfully produced. Melons, pumpkins, squashes and other 
equally tender things grow to perfection at all save the high alti- 
tudes, and gardens up to 8,000 feet produce a good variety of veg- 
etables of the best quality. 

Among fruits, the hardier kinds are being grown in all parts 
of the state. On the Laramie Plains Jacob Lund has an orchard 
at an altitude of 7,400 feet which matures Wealthy apples each 
year. Currants, gooseberries, dewberries and strawberries can be 
grown anywhere that there are agricultural lands. 

The horticultural sections of the state are the low altitude 
lands and the protected valleys of Laramie, Johnson, Sheridan 7 



AGRICULTURE 107 

.■Fremont and Big Horn Counties. In Fremont and Big Horn 
Counties two different ranchmen have ripened peaches without 
other protection than that afforded by hills and tree windbreaks. 
In these counties a large variety of apples are bearing crops of first 
quality fruit. Among these varieties may be mentioned the 
Northwest Greening, Gano, Ben Davis, Walbridge, Wolf River, 
Ganitan, Yellow Transparent, McMahon, Wealthy, Duchess, Pe- 
waukee, White Winter Pearmain, Gideon and others, as well as a 
large variety of crabs. Several varieties of pears, cherries and 
plums are yielding good crops. The possibilities of homemaking 
where such fruits and the more useful shade trees succeed will ap- 
peal to many. 



Dry Farming 



In the arid West where it has been considered that crops 
could only be raised by means of irrigation, we now find it possible 
to raise profitable crops where the rainfall is less than fifteen inches 
per annum, not under new methods, but by the oldest kind of 
farming, practiced since agriculture began, where but a scanty 
amount of moisture was furnished by the natural rainfall. For 
over forty years this kind of farming has been practised in Cali- 
fornia, and for over twenty-five years in eastern Oregon and east- 
ern Washington. In these states it has been demonstrated that 
by deep plowing and a proper system of cultivation, by summer 
fallowing and tilling one-half of the farm area without a crop each 
year, two years' moisture may be conserved for the biennial crop. 
In the early '80s, settlers in western Kansas and Nebraska at- 
tempted to farm under the usual methods and failed, on account 
of the lack of sufficient rainfall at the proper time. 

There are many places in Wyoming along the eastern border 
and in the northeastern corner where farmers have been success- 
fully farming under ordinary methods for nearly twenty years. 
While many of them have not failed to raise a profitable crop, yet 
this method of farming cannot be recommended; but the system 
which is hereafter outlined, if carefully followed, will assure a 
profit to the land owner. 

Three years ago, a committee of citizens of Cheyenne raised 
funds for the purpose of conducting experiments and secured the 
co-operation of the United States Department of Agriculture and 
the establishment of an experiment farm near Cheyenne. The ser- 
vices of an experienced man were secured for the purpose of in- 



108 THE STATE OP WYOMING 

structing farmers in this method of agriculture. Two seasons' 
work were carried out almost within the city limits, and in 1907 
a yield of fifty-six bushels of beardless barley and thirty-eight and 
two-thirds bushels of Macaroni wheat were secured to the acre. 
Two tracts of alfalfa were started, and, at the present time give 
promise of being a perfect success. 

There are many fields in Wyoming in which alfalfa is being 
raised entirely without irrigation, and it is believed that one large 
crop can be secured, and, in case of a rain at the proper time, a 
second crop is possible. 

Nearly one-half of the area of Wyoming is still open to settle- 
ment, and it is estimated that nearly twenty million acres could 
be brought under cultivation and made to produce profitable 
crops without artificial irrigation. 

The record of precipitation, which has been kept for Laramie 
County since 1871, a period of thirty-six years, shows that the av- 
erage rainfall is 13.58 inches, and the average for the past 16 years 
has been 15.66 inches, showing a considerable increase over the 
first twenty years for which records were kept, and, what is more 
important, it is shown that three-fourths of this precipitation 
comes during the growing months, while in the far western states, 
where successful dry farming is an established fact, the precipi- 
tation comes in the winter and not when the growing crops need 
it most. 

In Wyoming we are free from those scorching hot winds 
which prevail during the summer months over large parts of the 
states farther west, thus reducing the evaporation at a time when 
the moisture is most needed. This immense advantage in the 
distribution of our rainfall would indicate that we can be more 
successful than the dry farmers in California, Oregon, Idaho and 
Washington. 

By discing the stubble ground after our crops are taken off 
we conserve and hold what moisture there is in the soil and pre- 
pare it to readily absorb the moisture that may fall later, and this 
enables us to plow our ground in the fall, which cannot be done 
where the dry season comes in the summer. It has been demon- 
strated at Cheyenne that proper cultivation does conserve the 
moisture and keeps the ground in condition to be worked. 

The immense areas of the virgin soils of Wyoming have never 
been wet to a depth of two feet, on account of the packing of the 
surface by buffalo and live stock, but, after breaking up the 
ground the moisture goes into the sub-soil and is saved and accu- 
mulated. These arid soils are very rich in mineral plant foods, 
and have enough humus and nitrogen, when new, to supply large 
crops; the occasional growth of legumes, which gather nitrogen 
from the air, is all that is necessary to keep them perpetually fer- 
tile. 



AGRICULTURE 109 

Prospective dry farmers should bear in mind that better re- 
sults will be obtained if seeds suitable to the different altitudes 
are secured. At the higher altitudes short season crops can be 
made to mature with less moisture than they can where the season 
is longer and comparatively hot. 

The System Recommended, 

The system recommended in Wyoming consists in holding 
two years' moisture for one big crop. The farmer should divide 
his land into two portions, one-half to be put in a crop each year, 
while the other is being summer fallowed. By this method, a 
good crop on one-half of the total amount of land is secured when 
the seasons are dry. 

Plowing Mast be Deep. 

In breaking the ground it should be done in the fall, if possi- 
ble, in order that the winter's moisture may be conserved, the sod 
becoming decomposed and the soil compacted so that a good seed 
bed can be formed for spring planting. The old ground should be 
plowed eight to nine inches deep, and if not plowed in the fall 
should be plowed as early in the spring as conditions permit. 

Ground Should be Harrowed the Day it is Plowed. 

By harrowing the ground the same day the evaporation of a 
considerable amount of moisture is prevented. Harrowing and 
drilling should be diagonally or at right angles to the way in 
which the prevailing winds blow in order to prevent the soil from 
drifting, to hold the snow and to prevent the particles of soil or 
snow from injuring the young grain in the drill furrows by being- 
carried along in the furrows by the wind. The ground being- 
summer fallowed should be harrowed as soon as it is dry enough 
after every heavy rain or big snow. If harrowing is deferred too 
long, the surface of the soil becomes dry and is more liable to drift 
when cultivated. Some farmers recommend summer fallowing 
immediately after any rain or snow. The farmer must use his 
judgment and get on the ground as soon as conditions are favor- 
able for doing good work. 

Soil Mulch Conserves Moisture. 

It is by the soil mulch that moisture is conserved, evapora- 
tion prevented, and dew or other moisture in the air, or precipita- 
ted, is absorbed. 

The summer fallowed ground should be in a granular form of 
small lumps, but care should be taken not to get it too fine. The 



110 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

object of cultivating is to prevent the formation of a crust, allow 
the proper action of the sun and air, and prevent the growth of 
weeds. The moisture of the soil rises to the surface and evapo- 
rates by capillary attraction, and by breaking the upper surface 
this loss of moisture is prevented. 

Sowing the Crop. 

By sowing winter grain early, not later than the end of Au- 
gust, it will attain a good growth and be in better condition to 
resist the winter. Spring grain should be sown as soon as the 
ground can be put in good condition and the danger of hard freez- 
ing of the soil is passed. In dry farming better results are ob- 
tained by sowing not more than thirty to forty pounds of wheat 
per acre in the early -fall. Other things being equal, the earlier 
the grain is sown the greater is its chance of stooling. If sown 
late in the spring a larger proportion of seed can be sown, as if the 
ground is ,moist and warm the grain starts and grows so rapidly 
that it does not take time to stool. 

The Press Drill is essential for the dry farmer. Broadcasting 
by hand or machine causes many failures, as some of the grain is 
harrowed too deeply and some not deep enough. The press drill 
puts in the grain to the proper depth, pressing the soil around the 
seed, insuring moisture to cause it to germinate, and gains the 
farmer a week or ten days by putting the grain into moist ground 
at a uniform depth, besides the large saving of seed. With a 
press drill ten to twelve pounds of alfalfa seed per acre is sufficient. 

Proper Seeds Bring Best Results* 

You cannot afford to use any but the best seed obtainable. 
Seeds should be those raised without irrigation, if possible to ob- 
tain them, and should be thoroughly clean and free from weed 
seeds. The cost of such seeds is of little importance compared 
with the results. 

Cultivation. 

A soil mulch must be maintained, not only on the fallowed 
ground, where frequent harrowings will be all that is necessary, 
but also on the land which is raising the crop. In the spring use 
a weeder, or thoroughly harrow your winter grain. The harrow 
teeth must be sharp. Do not be afraid to harrow for fear of tear- 
ing out too much grain. It is very important that growing cereals 
should be cultivated with a harrow. Alfalfa and grass meadows 
should be thoroughly disced. After the second year there is little 
danger of injuring alfalfa with the disc, even though the surface 



AGRICULTURE 111, 

soil is pulverized. Alfalfa permanently occupies the land, and 
discing and harrowing is the proper method of preserving the soil 
and moisture. 

Potatoes, corn and other crops in rows should be harrowed 
until they get too large, and after that shallow level culture should 
be followed until the crop is harvested. 

Harvesting. 

The soil should not be neglected; discing the stubble after 
harvesting the grain is important. The drag harrow should be 
used to break up the lumps and re-establish the soil mulch after 
harvesting potatoes or sugar beets. 

Barley or other grains, cut for grain hay, without threshing, 
should be harvested when in the stiff dough. This prevents the 
reseeding of the ground through the dropping of the ripe grain, 
which would come up the next year as a voluntary crop. 

Proper Crops to Raise. 

Crops which are grown in rows, like potatoes and corn, will 
mature with the least use of moisture. Corn cannot be raised in 
all sections of Wyoming, as the nights are too cool and the seasons 
too short, but profitable crops can be raised in many places, and 
only an experiment will decide. 

Among the small grains, drouth resisting varieties should be 
planted. Macaroni or Durum wheat is the best. Polish wheat is 
good where it is to be used for stock feed. 

Spelts or emmer is a most excellent stock feed. 

The bald or hulless barley or the beardless brewing barley 
are short season crops, which will mature with a minimum amount 
of moisture and furnish excellent feed. 

Oats do well in all parts of Wyoming, the earlier varieties 
being best where moisture is scarce. 

If it is desired to raise alfalfa, care should be taken to secure 
seed raised in the arid North, without irrigation, where the sea- 
sons are short. 

The Sorghums make good crops where the season is suffi- 
ciently long and warm. 

Brome grass is one of the best drouth resistant sorts for pas- 
turage purposes, but it must be harrowed or disced to prevent its 
becoming sod-bound and to keep it producing. 

An attempt is being made to develop white sweet clover and 
to so improve it that it will become valuable for dry farming and 
an important feed to be used with grain in fattening lambs and 
other stock. 

French clover or Sainfoin is a hardy, drouth resistant clover 
at high altitudes. 



112 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

The winter grains are especially favorable for dry farming, 
because the summer fallow method properly prepares the ground, 
and the spring rains are sufficient to mature the crop. 

Winter rye is not appreciated as it should be, for it is one of 
the best feeds for hogs which can be produced. 

Dr. V. T. Cooke, the expert dry farmer, says it has been 
estimated that the value of the stubble of an alfalfa crop and the 
roots contained in the upper 6J inches of the soil is $20 per acre 
from the fertility standpoint, while in addition to the stubble 
the whole root system contains as much fertility as could be added 
to the soil by an expenditure of $35 for commercial fertilizers. 
At the Wyoming experiment station wheat following alfalfa yielded 
30 bushels per acre and when sown after other crops an average 
of 18 bushels per acre. Oats after alfalfa yielded 78 bushels per 
acre, and after other crops 37 bushels per acre. 

Mixed Farming* 

Unless the dry farmer can make more than a living he will 
not be satisfied. Therefore, in order to receive the full result of 
his labor the farmer should have sufficient stock to consume all 
the forage raised upon his farm. The manure is an important 
item to be added to arid soils, as it increases their humus, making 
them more retentive of moisture and plant food. Where crops 
are fed to stock on the farm there is practically no loss to fertility. 

Where grains are raised for stock feed, they should be cut 
early and fed in a bundle, which avoids the extra work and ex- 
pense of threshing and hauling to market. 

The feeding of lambs or mutton, cattle and hogs of the bacon 
type, will insure a profit. Hog cholera is unknown, and there is 
a ready sale in Wyoming for all the hogs raised. 

Size of Farm. 

One man should be able to farm at least 160 acres if provided 
with proper equipment, by taking advantage of conditions as they 
arise. Four-horse implements enable one man to do double 
work. A man or boy with four horses and a three section harrow 
can harrow thirty to thirty-five acres per day. It is possible that 
a small amount of extra help will be necessary at certain times. 

Equipment. 

Dry farming does not require any special or new equipment. 
The dry farmer should have four or six horses, a three-section drag 
harrow, two 12- or 14-inch gang plows and a disc harrow. Most 
of them are now being made with discs sixteen inches in diameter. 
It is recommended that the discs should not be larger than four- 
teen inches, as the small discs seem to do the best work; and an 



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AGRICULTURE 113 

Acme harrow is valuable for maintaining soil mulch. One or 
more good cultivators are needed. 

Several farmers could club together and buy a harvesting 
machine, as unless the farmer has a large farm he would not need 
its exclusive use. 

The press drill is one of the essentials and may be either of the 
shoe or disc types. The disc drill has some advantages where 
there is much stubble or coarse manure on the ground, but on well 
prepared summer fallow ground, the shoe drill with press wheels 
following to firmly pack the soil around the seed does the best 
work. Where there are heavy clay soils, a double press wheel 
should be used. 

If the soil bakes, the double press wheel will leave a crack in 
the center, directly over the seed, through which the germinating 
plantlets can push their way out of the ground. 

Prospective immigrants may find it to their advantage to 
purchase implements in common and work together in starting 
their farms. 

IMPORTANT. 

The State of Wyoming has secured the services of Dr. V. T. 
Cooke, for the purpose of supervising the demonstration of the 
possibilities of dry farming in Wyoming. Dr. Cooke is expected 
to assist any one in the state who is interested in this work by 
furnishing him with information and advice. By writing to him 
at Cheyenne the prospective dry farmer can secure information 
based on many years of actual experience in directing dry farming 
operations. His advice as to the proper seeds to be used in the 
different localities will be found very valuable. 

A visit to the experiment farms near Cheyenne and elsewhere 
in the state, as most convenient, will do more to convince an 
interested party of the possibilities of this method of farming than 
all the literature which can be furnished. 

An Irrigated Garden in Connection with Dry Farming. 

Tests made by the United States Government Experiment 
Stations at Cheyenne and Newcastle have shown that a limited 
amount of ground can be profitably irrigated by means of wind 
mills and reservoirs, or by pumps worked by gasoline or other 
engines. As the dry farmer is, as a rule, dependent upon wells 
for his water supply, he should, by all means, supplement his 
farming with a garden of from one to five acres, for which a pump- 
ing plant of sufficient reservoir capacity can be put in place for a 
moderate sum. The government experiments have shown that 
there is a good profit in gardening under these conditions, and by 
application to the United States Irrigation Investigations Depart- 



114 . THE STATE OF WYOMING 

merit, Cheyenne, those interested can secure pamphlets giving the 
results of experiments and comparative statements as to cost and 
efficiency of the different makes of wind mills and gasoline engines 
used in demonstrations. 

ADVANTAGES OF IRRIGATION. 

It should be clearly understood by prospective immigrants 
that the great proportion of the lands in Wyoming are only valua- 
ble for farming if they can be placed under irrigation. A certain 
area of land in the eastern parts of Laramie, Weston, Crook and 
V Converse Counties can be successfully farmed by what is known 
as the dry farming method, and experiments of dry farming under 
what is known as the " Cooke System' ' are now being conducted 
on an extensive scale near Cheyenne by the State and the Govern- 
ment and also by private individuals. Your attention is called to 
an article on Dry Farming printed elsewhere in this pamphlet. 
The State is endeavoring to ascertain by experiment in other parts 
of the State what can be raised to advantage by settlers who do 
not have sufficient water to reclaim all the lands susceptible* of 
irrigation, and a very large number of well located tracts can be 
farmed successfully year after year under the old farming meth- 
ods, but all the land which can be placed under irrigation in these 
particular districts will yield a much larger return than if farmed 
without an artificial water supply. 

Agriculture in the Big Horn Basin is an irrigation proposi- 
tion. This will also apply to the Shoshone Indian Reservation r 
the valley of the North Platte and southern Wyoming, and the 
countless valleys of the smaller streams. Nowhere in the West 
are conditions more favorable for irrigation than in Wyoming. 
Our mountains furnish an abundant water supply which can be 
conserved at the least possible cost. The land, as a rule, lying in 
terraces running back from the valle} T s of the streams, the distrib- 
ution of the water is easy and economical. The yield from irriga- 
ted land is at least double that in the rain belt on the products 
which are generally raised in irrigated districts. The harvest is a 
certainty, as the timely application of water insures a crop, and 
there are practically no storms of rain and hail to lay waste the 
fields. The continual sunshine produces products of better qual- 
ity. 

A water right when once secured attaches to the land and can- 
not be separated from it. The soil in almost all of our valleys is 
largely sedimentary. It is the wash from the disintegrated moun- 
tains and foot-hills, and, under natural conditions, produces the 
short grass and sage brush of the arid plains, by reason of the lack 
of sufficient moisture to fully utilize its fertility. 

The tremendous yields obtained under irrigation are simply 



AGRICULTURE 115 

due to the supply of sufficient water to liberate the elements of 
plant life. The fertilizers for which the farmers of the East have 
to spend thousands of dollars are already in the soil. Everything 
native to the central temperate zone can be raised with success, 
including cereals, forage, roots and fruit. In some parts of the 
State Indian corn is successfully grown, but at the higher altitudes 
it is found that the nights are too cool for the growth necessary. 

The greatest forage crop is, of course, the natural grass, which 
covers more or less thickly the surface from the lowest valleys to 
the timber line of the mountain ranges. This native grass is one 
of the wonders of the semi- arid region, and its nutritive power 
renders stock growing both easy and profitable. 

The new settlers must be willing to take advantage of the ex- 
perience of their neighbors, and not attempt to grow grains or 
grasses which have, by experiment, been found not to be desira- 
ble for the particular locality in which they settle. The Wyoming 
Agricultural College at Laramie will be glad to send bulletins, upon 
request, showing investigations of profitable crops grown at differ- 
ent altitudes. 

On the Laramie plains a forty-acre oat field produced one hun- 
dred and thirty-four bushels of oats to the acre, (weight by meas- 
ure 47| pounds per bushel) the elevation being in excess of 7,000 
feet. Another tract of ground, never before cropped, produced 
one hundred bushels to the acre. 

In Johnson County more than nine hundred bushels of pota- 
toes were raised on one acre of ground. 

Fruit trees and small fruit do well in all parts of the State if 
proper protection is given to the young orchards and bushes. 

The advantages of irrigation are so marked that practical 
nurserymen are planting orchards under several of the canals, an- 
ticipating a much greater return from their young trees than pos- 
sible in humid regions, it being found that the best orchards yield 
a full crop every year. 

AVERAGE WYOMING CROPS. 

The following is the average per acre of those crops upon 
which authentic reports could be obtained in 1905. 

Alfalfa, per cutting (two cuttings) 2\ tons 

Timothy 2 tons 

Native and other hays \\ tons 

Potatoes 201 bushels 

Onions 45 tons 

Parsnips 30 tons 

Carrots 25 tons 

Beets 35 tons 

Sugar Beets 22 tons 



116 



THE STATE OF WYOMING 



Turnips : . . . . 40 tons 

Tomatoes l\)0 bushels 

Cucumbers 133 bushels 

Peas 50 bushels 

Beans 22 bushels 

Pumpkins, number per acre 950 

Squash, number per acre 1,769 

Watermelons, number per acre 1,115 

Muskmelons, number per acre 1,112 

Cabbage 2,719 

Cauliflower 4,000 

Wheat 30 bushels 

Barley 25 bushels 

Rye 20 bushels 

Oats 50 bushels 

Corn 20 bushels 

Raspberries 962 quarts 

Strawberries 6,920 quarts 

Cherries 4,356 quarts 

Blackberries 9,500 lbs. 

Currants * 21,000 lbs. 

Gooseberries . 29,000 lbs. 



Crops and Farm Values, 1907. 



CROP 



Corn 

Spring Wheat 

Oats 

Barley 

Rye 

Potatoes .... 
Hay .... . . . 



ACRES 
PLANTED 



3,000 acres 

30,000 acres 

30,000 acres 

4,000 acres 

400 acres 

5,000 acres 

250,000 acres 



AVERAGE YIELD 
PER ACRE 



25 bushels 
28.5 bushels 
37 bushels 
32 bushels 
23 bushels 
200 bushels 
2 . 1 tons 



AVERAGE PRICE 
PER BUSHEL 



70c 
77c 
53c 
54c 

66c 
74c 

$7 . 50 per ton 



Wyoming produced more oats than either Utah, Nevada, 
Louisiana, New Mexico or Arizona, more barley than Missouri or 
New Mexico. Wyoming produced an average of 2.10 tons per acre 
of hay, which was greater than the yield in Iowa, 1 . 40 tons ; 
Nebraska, 1.50 tons; Missouri, 1.40 tons; Kansas, 1.15 tons; 
Texas, 1.30 tons; Montana, 1.70 tons; Nevada, 1.74 tons; Cali- 
fornia, 1.75 tons; and New Mexico, 2.05 tons per acre. 

In Irish potatoes Wyoming's yield was 25% greater per acre 
than Colorado, Montana and Washington and double that of 
Utah. Note that the average yield in Wyoming was 200 bushels 



AGRICULTURE 117 

per acre, while the yield per acre in Iowa was but 75 bushels; 
Nebraska, 73 bushels; Missouri, 82 bushels; Kansas, 65 bushels; 
Idaho, 145 bushels; Louisiana, 67 bushels, and Texas, 73 bushels. 
Under irrigation larger crops are grown. Even corn yielded more 
per acre in Wyoming than in the great corn growing states of 
Kansas and Nebraska. The corn crop in Nebraska averaged 
24 bushels per acre, Iowa 29.5, Missouri 31, Kansas 22.1, Wj r o- 
ming 25, Colorado 23, Utah 23. 

While the number of farms in Wyoming is less than in the 
more populous states, the value per acre is much higher. The 
farm values'of the different states per acre are: Nebraska, $10.43; 
Iowa $11.78; Missouri, $13.65; Kansas, $9.25; Wyoming, $18.89; 
Utah, $18.21. 

Some Actual Yields in Big Horn County. 

Below w r e give the average yields reported by some of the 
farmers in the immediate vicinity of Cody, for the season of 1907: 
Geo. W. Burch, 24 acres oats, 105 bushels per acre, weighing 40 
pounds to the bushel. Wheat, 22 acres, 58 bushels per acre. 

Robert Looney threshed over 100 bushels of wheat to the 
acre. 

J. C. Clucas raised 50 bushels of wheat and 70 bushels of oats 
to the acre. 

John Corless, oats 33 acres, 1482 bushels, weight 40 pounds, 
price $1 .50 per 100 pounds. 

T. J. Walters, oats 21 acres, yield 30 bushels per acre, price 
received $2.00 per 100 pounds. 

C. R. Snyder, wheat 6 acres, yield 30 bushels per acre. Al- 
falfa, 200 acres, 500 tons, price in stack $7.50. 

H. D. Thompson, oats 78 acres, 2360 bushels. Wheat 28 
acres, 561 bushels. Potatoes 2 acres, 200 bushels. 

A. C. Johnson & Son raised 33^ bushels of barley to the acre, 
50 bushels of potatoes on \ acre, and fair crops of oats and wheat. 
Mr. Johnson paid $15.50 per acre for his land in 1902; present 
value $60.00 per acre. 

M. L. Freeborg, five miles southeast of Cody, raised 60 bushels 
of oats to the acre that weighed 40 pounds to the bushel; 300 
bushels of potatoes on \\ acres that were sold for $1.50 per cwt; 
40 acres of alfalfa that sold from $11.00 to $12.00 per ton. 

Eric Hedstrom, three miles east of Cody, raised 28 bushels 
of oats to the acre on a 9-acre field, 5 acres of which was volunteer, 
and 8,000 pounds of potatoes on an acre. Mr. Hedstrom pur- 
chased his land for $15 . 50 per acre and says present value is $75.00. 

Roy Myers purchased 40 acres in 1902 for $12 . 50 and 40 acres 
in 1906 for $50.00 per acre, present value $125.00 per acre. He 
raised 100 bushels of potatoes to the acre, 7 bushels of alfalfa 



118 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

seed to the acre that is worth $9 . 00 per bushel; has 500 strawberry 
plants doing well, 14£ acres .in oats and 20 acres in alfalfa. 

J. D. Kaufman, 12 acres of oats, 55 bushels per acre, weight 
43 pounds, price received $1.75 per 100 pounds; f acre potatoes, 
200 bushels, price $1.20 per bushel. Alfalfa, 50 acres, 200 tons, 
price in stack $9.00. Alfalfa seed, 10 acres, 27 bushels, price 
$9.00 per bushel. Three acres in young orchard doing well. 

John P. Lindholm, five miles southeast of Cody, purchased 
his land for $15.50 per acre, present value $60.00 per acre. He 
raised 38 bushels of oats to the acre, 30 bushels of wheat and 2\ 
tons of alfalfa. His oats weighed 43 pounds to the bushel and 
sold for $1.80 per cwt. His wheat sold for $1.40 per cwt., and 
alfalfa at $10.00 per ton. 

H. C. Fritzer, four miles southeast of Cody, says he paid 
$15.50 per acre for his land and that the present value is $65.00 
per acre. He sold $60.00 worth of tomatoes, and raised 600 
bushels of oats, 145 bushels of wheat and 90 tons of alfalfa last 
year; has 20 apples trees doing well and raspberries and black- 
berries of good quality. 

J. W. Howell, four miles east of Cody, purchased in 1903 160 
acres at $15.50 per acre which he says he would not sell for less 
than $100.00 per acre. Mr. Howell raised 61 bushels of oats to 
the acre on one field of 20 acres and 40 bushels to the acre on a 
field of 60 acres, which weighed 45 pounds to the bushel and sold 
for $1.45 per cwt.; 41 bushels of wheat to the acre, which sold 
for $1 .25 per bushel, and 100 bushels of potatoes on \ acre, which 
sold at $1 .50 per cwt. He also has 4,000 large broad-leaf cotton- 
wood trees, which he considers the best for this country, and 75 
fruit trees doing well. He has 4,000 to 5,000 young cottonwoods 
for sale. 

STATE LANDS. 

The State of Wyoming has a little over three million acres 
of lands granted for the support of the common schools, and also 
receives five per cent, of all money received by the general gov- 
ernment for the sale of lands in Wyoming. The State also has 
nearly seven hundred thousand acres of land granted to the sup- 
port of the various institutions. 

The State Land Board does not offer these lands for sale un- 
less such sale seems to be to the benefit of the State by offering 
opportunities for home making or employment. When sold up- 
on approved applications, the lands are offered at public auction 
and cannot be purchased for less than ten dollars an acre. Thirty 
per cent, of the purchase price must be paid in cash, and the bal- 
ance, if desired, may be paid in seven annual payments, with in- 
terest at six per cent. 



AGRICULTURE 110 

In order to secure revenue for the common schools and the 
various State 'institutions, the Boards lease the State Lands to 
parties making application for same, preference in original appli- 
cations being given to residents of the State. After lease has 
been secured, the party is entitled to a preference right to a re- 
newal of same at the end of the five year term, at such valuation 
as may be fixed by the Board. Most of the grazing lands are 
rented for five cents per acre per year. Lands susceptible of ir- 
rigation run from ten to fifty cents per acre per year, while in- 
demnity school lands selected in the place desired by the applicants 
bring rentals of from ten to twenty-five cents an acre. 

•Information in regard to the lease of State lands can be se- 
cured by applying to the Commissioner of Public Lands, at Chey- 
enne. 

State Coal and Mineral Lands. 

The State has a number of school sections containing mineral 
leads and valuable deposits of coal, which deposits were not 
known to exist in 1890, at the time of the passage of title from the 
United States. These sections can be rented and mined upon a 
royalty basis, but a sufficient deposit is required, so that the lands 
will not be held for speculative purposes. Full particulars in 
regard to the lease and sale of these lands can be had by applying 
to the Commissioner of Public Lands, Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

THE CAREY DESERT LAND ACT. 
"How to Obtain a Home/' 

Under the provisions of the Act of Congress, approved Au- 
gust 18th, 1894, donating to each of the arid land states one mil- 
lion acres of land, conditional upon its reclamation, the State of 
Wyoming has segregated forty-three tracts of land, aggregating 
nearly seven hundred and fifty thousand acres. In addition to 
the three hundred and twenty acres of land allowed by the gov- 
ernment under the homestead and desert land laws to a qualified 
party, such party may also file upon one hundred and sixty acres 
under the Carey Act, providing that he purchase a water right 
from the association or company constructing a canal for the 
reclamation of the land, at a cost of from ten to forty dollars per 
acre, depending upon location. Not more than one-quarter of 
the purchase price can be required in advance from the settler, 
the remainder being payable in ten equal annual installments, 
with interest at from six to eight per cent, per year. The settler 
has the privilege of paying all in cash if he so desires, or paying in 
full at the time fixed for any partial payment. Parties desiring 
to take up homesteads under this act are requested to write to 
the Commissioner of Public Lands, Cheyenne, who will be glad to 



120 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

give specific information in regard to any project, or to the ad- 
dress of the companies which have been granted contracts for 
reclamation, as shown in the following pages. Water rights to 
all lands acquired under the provisions of this act attach to and 
become appurtenant to the land. A payment of twenty-five 
cents per acre must be made at the time of making application 
for the land, and a fee of $1.00 paid; within three years the appli- 
cant must show reclamation of one eighth of the land and a con- 
tinuous residence after the first six months. Application for 
patent must be accompanied by the final payment of twenty-five 
cents an acre and a state fee of $2.00 for issuing the patent. If 
the land is reclaimed within the first six months, upon the show- 
ing of the construction of a substantial house and residence of not 
less than thirty days immediately prior to the date of making 
final proof the applicant may procure a patent for the land and 
may obtain such patent at any time after six months, upon mak- 
ing the f)roper showing. 

The State Land Board does not allow a canal company to 
sell water rights until its canal is completed to the point of diver- 
sion of the water contracted for, unless it is provided that the con- 
tract and money, or evidence of indebtedness, are deposited 
with the application of the settler and the proper fees, in escrow 
in the office of the Commissioner of Public Lands, there to be held 
until the canal is ready to deliver water. This allows the settler 
to begin the improvement of his land in the season prior to the 
anticipated completion of the canal, so that when the canal is 
ready to furnish water, he is ready to put in a crop and make his 
final proof the same season. 

A party having an uncompleted homestead entry under the 
United States law cannot make application for lands under the 
Carey Act until he is in position to make his home upon the land. 

Disposition of Money* 

The fifty cents per acre received by the State for these lands 
creates a fund for the reclamation of other lands, which is depos- 
ited in the State Treasury pending the accumulation of an amount 
sufficient to finance some reclamation project. 

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE— CANALS CONSTRUCTED. 

The Arid Land Act is now proving to be the most beneficial 
to the State of Wyoming of all United States laws, as Wyoming 
has more streams than any other western state. 

The State Land Board has taken especial and practical in- 
terest in furthering the interest of the settlers. The state and 



AGRICULTURE 121 

national governments afford perfect protection for capital invested 
and to the settler for title to his land and the perpetuity of his 
water right. There is no possibility of loss to the individual in- 
vestors or the settlers. The soil, climate and altitude of Wyoming 
are especially adapted to the most profitable crops grown by irri- 
gation. 

CODY CANAL. 

Cody, "Wyoming. 

The first segregation made under this act was for the Cody 
Canal, and comprised 26,429.94 acres, the water being taken from 
the south fork of the Shoshone River. The State obtained patent to 
19,868.54 acres, about 12,000 acres of which have been filed upon 
and reclaimed. This canal has been turned over to the manage- 
ment of holders of water rights therein, and will be a splendid 
success under co-operative management. A number of valuable 
tracts are still open for entry. 

By reason of the proximity of the lands to the prosperous 
town of Cody and to the work being done by the United States 
Reclamation Service in the construction of the Shoshone Canal 
on the north side of the river, settlers can find work for all and 
market for the products of their farms. 

Only a visit of inspection to this tract and comparing the 
reclaimed lands with the unbroken desert lands adjoining will 
enable the prospective settler to realize the results obtained by 
the few years' work. 

BIG HORN BASIN DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, 

Germania and Wiley, Wyoming. 

The State has received patent for 11,251.60 acres under the 
Bench Canal, constructed over ten years ago by this Company. 
Nearly one hundred families settled under this canal and most 
of the land is now patented to the settlers. The canal is under 
the control and management of the owners of shares therein and 
the cost of maintenance is about $7.00 for each forty acre tracft 
per year. 

This company has also segregated 204,620.53 acres under 
what is known as the Oregon Basin Reservoir and Canal Project. 
For the purpose of diverting the flood waters of the South Fork 
of the Shoshone River, a canal sixty feet wide is being excavated 
which will carry a small river into the immense reservoir known 
as the Oregon Basin. This is one of the largest projects in the 
State and is, in many ways, superior to the government projects 
which have been much more costly. 

At the point where the water from the canal enters the Oregon 
Basin Reservoir, a fall of 130 feet offers an opportunity for the 



122 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

creation of an enormous amount of electrical energy, which will 
inure to the benefit of the residents of the new town of Wiley, 
located near this point, and the settlers on these tracts of land, as 
electricity can be transmitted to all points. Adjoining the lands 
are coal measures, which offer a cheap fuel, a most important item 
in the settlement of a new country. 

The Big Horn Basin Development Company, being unable to 
complete the tunnels and headgate of the Shoshone River Ganal, 
will not be able to deliver water as advertised, on May 12th, 1908. 

The Land Board has ordered that all the money paid by pros- 
pective settlers and the contracts entered into between settlers 
and the company be placed in escrow in this office to be held here 
until the company is ready to deliver water contracted for. Par- 
ties can thus select the lands they desire to enter and be ready to 
locate upon them when notified that water is ready, and be pro- 
tected by the state holding the money and contracts. 

Further inquiries in regard to this plan will be answered upon 
request. 

The prosperous towns of Germania and Burlington have* been 
built up by the settlers under the Bench Canal. 

A large amount of honey is produced on the Germania Flats, 
and in some cases the settlers have paid for their lands from the 
labor of their bees. 

This company also has a small segregation of 784.43 acres 
taken up under water rights from Sage Creek. This canal was 
constructed and has been enlarged and absorbed by the Oregon 
Basin Canal Company. 

BIG HORN COUNTY IRRIGATION COMPANY. 
Basin, Wyoming. 

A segregation of 16,295.44 acres of land on the west side of 
the Big Horn River south of Basin was made several years ago 
which has been supplemented by additional segregations aggre- 
gating between 5,000 and 6,000 acres, so that this company now 
has open for settlement about 22,000 acres of valuable land, and 
has expended over $360,000 in the construction of a substantial 
canal. The elevation of these lands is but a little over 4,500 feet, 
and the lands are particularly adapted to the growing of sugar- 
beets. 

This segregation is tributary to the county seat, Basin, a 
prosperous town with good stores, banks and lumber yards, and 
which will offer a market for the surplus products of the settlers. 
None of the segregated lands are more than three or four miles 
from the Burlington railway, which offers an outlet for the stock- 
raisers and feeders. 

The canal system is entirely completed, and many settlers 



AGRICULTURE 123 

have taken up tracts of land along the Big Horn River. The 
company expects to entirely settle these lands during the present 
year, and, on account of the proximity to the railroad and to the 
markets of the coal mines and towns along the Burlington, there 
would seem to be no better location in the State. 

HANOVER CANAL COMPANY. 
Worland, Wyoming. 

This company has a segregation of 10,682.53 acres, and has, 
in addition, about 20,000 acres of deeded lands which can be sold 
outright with perpetual water right. 

The town of Worland is near the north end of these lands, 
and a new town of Rairden is near the southern end, most of the 
land being on the east side of the Big Horn River. The tract is 
traversed by the Burlington railroad, and prospective settlers can 
examine the lands from the train. 

This company is now constructing a steel flume across the 
Big Horn River, and is ready to deliver water to several thousand 
acres of valuable farming land not yet filed upon. There is a 
market at the Kirby mines for a large amount of agricultural 
products, and this tract offers exceptional advantages to the 
home-seeker. 

THE NORTH PLATTE CANAL AND COLONIZATION 

COMPANY. 

Wyncote, Wyoming. 

This company had a contract to reclaim 14,424.44 acres of 
land along the North Platte River in Laramie County. The Gov- 
ernment Reclamation Service found it necessary to purchase its 
canal and enlarge same in order to be able to carry water further 
down to government lands. A very large and substantial canal 
has been constructed and the bulk of the land has been filed upon. 
There are, however, a number of very desirable homestead loca- 
tions left, for which water rights can be purchased at $30.00 per 
acre. 

The prosperous settlements of Fort Laramie, Wyncote and 
Torrington are in the vicinity of the lands covered by this canal, 
and offer trading and school advantages. 

On account of the proximity to the Denver and Omaha stock 
markets, these lands are particularly desirable, as all forage crops 
meet with ready sale to stock feeders. 

Beet sugar factories will, no doubt, be erected in the near 
future in close proximity to this section and the soil being particu- 
larly adapted to the raising of sugar beets, the settlers will find a 
ready sale for their reclaimed lands in the future. 



124 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

THE WHEATLAND INDUSTRIAL COMPANY. 
Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

This company has completed an extension of the Wyoming 
Development Company's canal, which is an immense system con- 
structed several years ago for lands taken up under the Desert 
Land Act before the passage of the Carey Act. The branch canal 
is controlled under a separate corporation, and will be turned over 
to the management of the settlers when ninety per cent, of the 
lands are taken up. The lands will be open for settlement May 
1st. 

The town of Wheatland is located on the Colorado & Southern 
Railway, near the center of the irrigable tract, and offers advan- 
tages in the way of schools not always found in a more populous 
district. Flour mills are ready to purchase all the grain raised, 
and livestock feeders use the alfalfa and other forage. Parties 
taking up land under the Carey Act who desire to obtain more 
than 160 acres can purchase other lands outright from the com- 
pany. The price of the water rights is $37.50 an acre. 

SAHARA DITCH COMPANY. 
Buffalo, Wyoming. 

The segregation of 7,920 . 30 acres was made for this company 
in the southern part of Johnson County along the Powder River. 
This county was among the first counties settled up in the northern 
part of the State, and is a great stock-raising district and one of 
the most fertile and prosperous counties in Wyoming. In spite 
of the fact that it lacks railway communication, the county seat 
being thirty miles from the Burlington road at Clearmont, it has 
rapidly developed, and the lands under this canal, for which water 
rights can be secured at not to exceed $30.00 per acre, offer such 
advantages that they should be investigated by prospective 
settlers. The altitude is comparatively low, ranging from 4,000 
to 4,600 feet, and almost all crops can be grown in this county. 
Much land is suitable for fruit raising, and with the prospective 
development it is but a question of time when the county will be 
traversed by a new railroad or a branch of the Burlington. 

LA PRELE DITCH AND RESERVOIR COMPANY. 
Douglas, Wyoming. 

This company has constructed a canal sixteen miles long at a 
cost of about $120,000.00, and is contracting for the construction 
of a reinforced concrete dam to impound the flood waters of 
LaPrele Creek, at a cost of about $190,000.00. 

About twenty thousand acres of land near Douglas in Con- 
verse County has been segregated under the Carey Act, and a 



AGRICULTURE 125 

considerable area of deeded or homestead lands will also be sup- 
plied with water through this canal from the reservoir. 

The segregated lands extend to within three miles of the City 
of Douglas, one of the most prosperous and beautiful towns in the 
State, which offers a market for all the alfalfa and grain that can 
be raised by the settlers. The State Fair located here offers an 
excellent opportunity for the exhibition of the local products, and 
land values will advance rapidly. Being adjacent to the Chicago 
& Northwestern Railroad, which offers ample facilities for stock 
shippers, there is no doubt that a great shipping and feeding 
business will be established in this vicinity. 

This company has also made plans for the segregation of 
another tract which will eventually add a considerable area to the 
farming lands of Converse County and aid in keeping it as it is 
now, one of the foremost counties in the State. 

BIG HORN BASIN COLONIZATION COMPANY. 
Byron, Lovell and Cowley, Wyoming. 

The three prosperous villages of Byron, Lovell and Cowley 
have been built by Mormon colonists, and the settlers, as a rule, 
live within the village limits, cultivating the land from three to 
five miles in each direction during the days and returning to their 
homes in the evening. The work of these pioneers is an object 
lesson and testifies both to the advantages of irrigation and the 
industry of the settlers. 

This company has had segregated some 20,000 acres of land, 
almost all of which has been filed upon and reclaimed by actual 
settlers. The land is situated near the Shoshone River and the 
canal was built under the co-operative plan and has been very 
successful. Almost every variety of grain grown in the West can 
be grown here. 

BOULDER CANAL & RESERVOIR COMPANY. 

Boulder, Wyoming. 

This company has completed a canal for the reclamation of 
6,120 acres of land in the southwest portion of Fremont County. 
On account of the distance from railroad communication, the cost 
of water rights has been placed at a very low figure. Parties de- 
siring to make their homes here can settle upon 160 acres of land 
and purchase a water right for $10.00 an acre. The land is very 
fertile, and, within a short time, will be within reasonable distance 
of railroad transportation and will then be worth at least three 
times the present price. This is one of the best stock growing 
localities in the state, and, being near the mountains, the climate 
is very delightful. 



126 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

LOVELL IRRIGATION COMPANY. 

* Lovell, Wyoming* 
On the south side of the Shoshone River this company pro- 
posed to reclaim 11,320.51 acres of land. A number of miles of 
this canal has been completed but the land is not yet open for 
settlement. 

NEW CANALS IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

The canals and segregations hereinbefore specifically men- 
tioned have been partially or fully completed. There are a num- 
ber of projects which have not been completed and some not yet 
started, which will reclaim lands in various parts of the state. 

NORTH PLATTE AND ENCAMPMENT CANAL COMPANY. 
Encampment, Wyoming. 
This corporation has two segregations of land aggregating 
nearly 50,000 acres lying between the towns of Saratoga and 
Encampment on the west side of the North Platte River in Car- 
bon County. Some preliminary work has been done. A railroad 
is now completed from Walcott on the Union Pacific to Saratoga 
and will soon be completed to Encampment. (See article on 
Carbon County.) 

WESTERN LAND AND IRRIGATION COMPANY. 
Saratoga, Wyoming. 

This company has a segregation of 18,171.27 acres lying on 
the east side of the North Platte River in Carbon County. The 
project is entirely feasible but the construction has not yet been 
commenced, The opening of the railroad mentioned above will 
no doubt encourage capital in beginning this work. 

EDEN IRRIGATION AND LAND COMPANY. 
514 Boston Building, Denver, Colorado. 

This company has had two segregations of land made, aggre- 
gating 92,606 acres. The lands lie between and along the Little 
and Big Sandy Rivers in Fremont and Sweetwater Counties, and 
in a section of great agricultural possibilities. The company has 
secured the necessary capital for construction of its system, and 
is now prepared to locate settlers on this land under what is known 
as the escrow agreement, all money paid for water rights or con- 
tracts entered into being held in the office of the Commissioner 
of Public Lands at Chej^enne, until the canal is ready to deliver 
water. The settlers can procure work on the canal, or be improv- 
ing their claims until such time as water for irrigation is delivered, 
and should the company fail to carry out its contract, the money 
will be returned to the prospective settlers. (See Sweetwater 
County.) 



AGRICULTURE 127 

MEDICINE WHEEL CANAL COMPANY. 
Basin, "Wyoming. 

This company has a segregation of 22,522.64 acres of land on 
the east side of the Big Horn River, north of Basin. The segre- 
gation has just been allowed by the government, and construction 
work will probably commence during the present season. 

HUBBARD CANAL COMPANY. 

Cheyenne, Wyoming. 
A segregation of 36,621.14 acres has been applied for by this 
company, being land to be reclaimed from the Clark's Fork River 
in Big Horn County. This is a particularly valuable tract of land, 
and, as soon as the segregation is allowed, the company will com- 
mence construction. 

PAINT ROCK CANAL. 

1422 Marquette Building, Chicago. 
This company has two segregations of land aggregating about 
fifty-four thousand acres, the water being taken from Paint Rock 
Creek, a branch of the Big Horn River east of Basin. Active 
operations began this spring, a large amount of machinery having 
been shipped in for use in digging the canal. It is not probable 
that any water can be furnished for at least a year, but the com- 
pany will allow prospective settlers to file upon tracts of land and 
deposit their payments in the office of the Commissioner of Public 
Lands in escrow, to be held until the canal is completed to the 
point of diversion of the water contracted for. This plan enables 
prospective settlers to place their lands in shape and construct 
the necessary improvements so that when water is ready for de- 
livery they can put in a crop and make their proof of reclamation. 

THE HAMMITT DITCH. 
Cody, Wyoming. 

This company has applied for a segregation of about 7,000 
acres of land in Big Horn County, near Cody. Its water right is 
one of the oldest in existence from the South Fork of the Shoshone 
River, and, by reason of the proximity of the lands to the lands 
already irrigated under the Cody Canal, and the town of Cody, 
prospective settlers would find it greatly to their advantage if 
they could secure one of the homesteads thereunder. The land 
will not be open to settlement before 1909 except under escrow 
agreement. 

LAKE DE SMET PROJECT. 

A large amount of land in Johnson and Sheridan Counties 
was withdrawn by the government for investigation by the Recla- 
mation Service. The project not being undertaken by the United 



128 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

States, the land has been released, and an association of western 
capitalists has taken it up and will, by including the reservoir 
capacities of Lake de Smet, a natural lake in the adjoining moun- 
tains, and the construction of a ditch to carry water to supplement 
the natural flow of Piney, Prairie Dog and other small creeks in 
Sheridan County, be able to supply water for the reclamation of 
many thousand acres of very valuable land in Johnson and Sher- 
idan Counties. Most of this land is already owned by private 
parties, but will, no doubt, be placed upon the market when it is 
found that water for irrigation can be supplied. A number of 
thousand acres of state school lands can be irrigated and will be 
placed on sale after the canal is completed. 

THE FETTERMAN CANAL. 
Douglas, Wyoming, 

One of the large private enterprises is the canal constructed 
to cover some 6,000 acres of land west of Douglas, including lands 
in what is known as the "Old Fort Fetterman Reservation." A 
large canal has been constructed at a cost of over $80,000.00-, and 
is ready to deliver water. The land under this canal is mostly in 
private ownership, and under the control of Mr. John Morton of 
Douglas, Wyoming, who will, during the present season, put over 
1,000 acres in crops. The land is mostly level and very fertile. 
The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad passes through the tract, 
as does the survey of the Burlington Railroad. 

ROCK CREEK DITCH AND RESERVOIR COMPANY. 

This project contemplates the storage of the waters of Rock 
Creek, on the Laramie Plains, and their utilization in the devel- 
opment of a tract of about 50,000 acres of fine irrigable ' inds, 
which have been used for many years as the range of the Diamond 
Cattle Company, one of the largest of the old time companies. 
Much of this land has been irrigated for the purpose of increasi lg 
the growth of grass for pasturage. There is a considerable area 
of government land which can be taken up by settlers, while the 
deeded lands of the company and the state lands can be purchased. 
The company is not yet ready to furnish water, but by writing 
to them at Bosler, Wyoming, information can be secured. 

THE PIONEER CANAL COMPANY. 

One of the oldest canals in the State is the Pioneer Canal 
Company, which built a canal from Laramie River and furnishes 
water to settlers who have taken up land on the Laramie Plains. 
There are still some opportunities to secure land under this canal, 
and, by writing to the company at Laramie, information can be 
secured. 




£ ~ 



G $ 






AGRICULTURE 129 

OPPORTUNITIES FOR CAPITAL. 

There are many opportunities for investment along streams 
where water can be stored. This kind of development is often 
delayed until the summer flow of streams is entirely utilized. 
Stored water always guarantees a good water supply and where 
conditions are favorable for impounding the surplus flow of 
streams some of the best and most prosperous agricultural com- 
munit'js will spring up. The largest project of this character 
b< i investigated lies south of the Grey Bull River in 
Big H ty. The plans thus far outlined consist of a supply 

er from the Grey Bull River to storage works lo- 
ca , :1s of Cottomvood and Gooseberry Creeks. The 

lands to be ed lie along these creeks. It is estimated that 

from 75,000 to 151 000 acres of land can be reclaimed under such 
a system. Sur s in detail have not yet been made and such a 
study should be completed before plans are made looking toward 
investment. This is a field for investigation and those who are 
seeking an opportunity to carry a large undertaking to comple- 
tion might well afford to make such surveys as would enable esti- 
mates of cost to be made. The project is now known as the " Buf- 
falo Basin" enterprise. 

As most of the feasible projects requiring the expenditure of 
a limited amount of capital have already been taken by local 
capitalists and associations, the attention of the investor is called 
to the fact that many of the large ranches of the State i iclude 
areas of irrigable laud, to which early priorities for water are 
attached. The Ora Haley ranch, referred to in the Albany County 
article, is an example in point. This ranch is reported sold for 
a large 5 amount, and is to be divided up into small farms and sold 
to settlers. The Bell ranch on the Laramie Plains, also in Albany 
County, has alread}?" been divided into smaller tracts, each of 
w T hich is to support a new family, and many of them are already 
taken. 

There are many opportunities for investments of this char- 
acter, and the subdivision of the ranches into farms will insure a 
large profit to parties having the proper capital to invest. Any 
prospective settler desiring to purchase a small ranch is invited to 
correspond with the Department of Immigration, stating in what 
part of the State he desires to locate and how much capital he 
desires to invest. The Department will endeavor to place him in 
communication with some reliable party who will advise him of 
lands of the character desired which may be for sale in the specified 
locality. 

One of the best irrigation projects in the West has not yet 
been undertaken. A tract of land on the west side of Green River, 



130 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

in Sweetwater County, ranging from the mouth of Slate Creek to 
the Union Pacific and Oregon Short Line railways and comprising 
a large proportion of the irrigable land in seven townships, ap- 
proximately 150,000 acres of excellent farming land, can be sup- 
plied with water, at a moderate expense, by construction of a 
canal from Green River. This is a large river, and practically no 
water has been appropriated from it for irrigation. 

The Union Pacific Railroad Company owns one-half the land 
and will, no doubt, be glad to assist in the building up of the 
country by selling same at a moderate price to any company or 
.association which will guarantee to construct a proper reclamation 
system. The land is at present used for grazing, but if placed 
under irrigation would support ten thousand people. 

The State Board of Land Commissioners guards the interests 
both of the settler and of the investor, and will do all in its power 
to promote the settlement and advancement of the State. 

Capitalists are invited to enter into correspondence with the 
Commissioner of Public Lands and State Engineer, who will give 
them such information as is at their disposal'. 



Government Lands 



HOMESTEAD LAW, 

A homestead entryman must be the head of a family, or per- 
son who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, a citizen of 
the United States, or one who has declared his intention to become 
such, and not the proprietor of more than 160 acres of land in the 
United States. 

A woman can make a homestead entry as the head of a fam- 
ily, or femme sole, when over the age of twenty-one years, or a 
wife divorced from her husband, or deserted, so that she is de- 
pendent upon her own resources for support. A single woman 
making a homestead entry who marries before making proof may 
obtain title if she continues to reside upon t^e land. 

Settlement must be made upon the land within six months 
of date of entry, and a residence of five years is required before 
making final proof. 

Commutation can be made by making proof of settlement 
and residence and cultivation of the land for a period of fourteen 
months from the date of entry and paying $1.25 per acre for the 



GOVERNMENT LANDS 131 

land (or $2.50 per acre if within 20 miles of Union Pacific Rail- 
road.) 

The fees in the United States Land Office are $22.00 for 160 
acres outside the Union Pacific land grant, same covering alter- 
nate sections of land for twenty miles on either side of main line 
of the Union Pacific Railroad, and $34.00 for 160 acres inside said 
grant. 

Thousands of tracts of land, suitable for farming, under the 
dry farming system, are available for homestead entry. Pros- 
pective immigrants should, by all means, investigate the lands in 
W}^oming before taking up homesteads. 

What constitutes residence upon a homestead entry? This 
question has puzzled the brain of many a man and woman who 
had a burning desire to acquire title to 160 acres of Uncle Sam's 
domain without living thereon for a period of five years. Some 
have the erroneous idea that a person may file a homestead claim, 
visit the same and sleep Over night once in six months, and after 
five years of such residence (?) make final proof. It can only 
be done with a liberal amount of perjury thrown in. Visits to 
claims once in six months, or even oftener, do not constitute 
residence. It has been repeatedly held by the Secretary of the 
Interior that the home of the claimant must be upon the home- 
stead to the exclusion of a home elsewhere — that the land must be 
actually inhabited. 

The belief that the homestead law may be complied with in 
the matter of residence by visiting the land once in six months 
has doubtless grown up through the decisions of the Department 
that an absence of six months constitutes abandonment. In the 
days when the laws were loosely administered it was probably the 
practice of some to go to their claims and sleep once in six months, 
or perhaps oftener, and then secure witnesses who were willing to 
swear that the claimant actually inhabited the land. In such 
cases, and when there were no examinations made, the land officers 
were powerless, being compelled, in the absence of other testimony, 
to take the perjured evidence of the claimant and witnesses and 
pass the claim to patent. 

The view has also been held by many that a single man has 
rights in the matter of residence superior to those of a married 
man. Where the truth is adhered to, this is not the case. A 
single man must live upon his claim just as faithfully as the mar- 
ried man; in fact, tho married man may be absent from his claim 
practically all of the time earning a living if his family is inhabiting 
the land during his absence. In this respect the rights of the 
married man are superior to those of the single man. 

Just what constitutes homestead residence has never been 
laid down by the Interior Department, and probably never will be. 



132 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

Each case is judged upon its own merits. It is pretty well 
established, however, what does not constitute residence, and it 
may be taken for granted that a person who maintains a family 
in one domicile while he is pretending to live upon a homestead 
is treading upon rather thin ice. The single man who has a ten- 
by-twelve cabin on a piece of land and sleeps in that cabin once 
in six months, choosing warm nights for the occasions, may also 
be considered beyond the pale of the law. The home, as a matter 
of fact, is easily recognized. It is where one lives — eats, sleeps, 
cooks, does washing, keeps his wife and babies, and enjoys the 
comforts and blessings of life. It is not a makeshift for the 
purpose of defrauding Uncle Sam of 160 acres of land. 

In great generosity this beneficent government passed a law 
granting to those who are qualified title to 160 acres of land, pro- 
vided they would live upon the same for a period of five years; 
or, in case claimants found themselves unable to live there for five 
years, then permission is given to make commutation proof after 
a period of fourteen months' residence, by the payment of $1.25 
per acre where the land is beyond the railroad limits, or $2.50 
per acre where the land is within railroad limits. Where entry- 
men elect to commute their entries after fourteen months, their 
evidence as to residence is scrutinized with greater care than if 
they elect to live upon the land for a period of five years. A 
recent ruling of the Interior Department requires that in case of 
entries made after November 1, 1907, commutation can only be 
made after fourteen months' actual residence on the land. The 
constructive residence of six months allowed in ordinary home- 
stead cases is not allowed. All entries made prior to November 
1, 1907, however, may be proved up with six months' constructive 
residence and eight months' actual residence. 

The price of the homestead is the making of a home upon the 
land. The purpose is the settlement of the country and the build- 
ing up of the nation. Those who do not make their homes in 
good faith upon the land are not complying with the spirit and 
purpose of the homestead law and cannot expect patent. 

DESERT LAND ENTRIES. 

The right to make desert land entries is restricted to resident 
citizens of the state. The entryman must expend $1.00 per acre 
each year for three years, and file proof thereof during each year, 
or he can make his final proof and receive patent prior to tJie ex- 
piration of three years by showing the expenditure of $3.00 per 
acre and the reclamation of one-eighth of the land, which must 
be five acres for each forty-acre tract. A payment of twenty- 
five cents an acre is required at the time of making entry, and 



GOVERNMENT LANDS 133 

$1.00 per acre at the time of making final proof, and only lands 
which will not, without artificial irrigation, produce an agricul- 
tural crop, are deemed desert lands. No person can enter more 
than 320 acres of land in the aggregate, so that a party making a 
homestead entry can only make a desert entry of 160 acres. 

DESERT LAND FINAL PROOF. 

During the past three years the regulations relating to final 
proof upon desert land claims have been changed so frequently 
that few entrymen are aware of just what is required by the Land 
Department. Even the clerks of court, United States Commis- 
sioners and local land officers are not certain as to the requirements 
in the matter of water rights. 

If claimants will scrupulously adhere to the following instruc- 
tions it is probable they will have no trouble in securing patent: 

First — It must be shown that claimant has expended in 
permanent improvements, such as water right, ditching, grubbing 
sagebrush, first plowing of the land, fencing, etc., an amount 
equaling three dollars per acre. 

Second — It must be shown that claimant has irrigated all the 
land within his claim susceptible of practical irrigation, and that 
he has raised an agricultural crop upon at least one-eighth of the 
entry. If there are any high places or rocky portions that cannot 
be irrigated, the facts relating thereto should be explicitly set 
forth in the proof, and if there are any entire subdivisions that 
cannot be reclaimed, they must be relinquished. 

Third — If an agricultural crop cannot be raised upon the 
land because of its altitude or other unusual conditions, then a 
merchantable crop of hay will be accepted in lieu thereof, but all 
the facts as to why an agricultural crop cannot be raised on one- 
eighth of the land must be fully set forth. An " increased growth 
of grass' ' will not be accepted as sufficient in any event. 

Fourth — Claimant must show title to a permanent right to 
the use of sufficient water to irrigate all the land in his claim that 
is susceptible' of irrigation. If this title is secured under the state 
law through the State Engineer's office, then a copy of the certifi- 
cate of appropriation from the Board of Control should be fur- 
nished; or, if the certificate has not been issued, a copy of the per- 
mit from the office of the State Engineer showing the land areas 
covered and that the completion of the appropriation has tfeen 
reported to the State Engineer's office. Care should be taken to 
have the permit for a sufficient acreage to cover all the land in the 
entry that can be irrigated, for the reason that the Land Depart- 
ment will not accept proof showing water right for a lesser acreage 
than can be reclaimed. 



134 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

The most recent regulation in the matter of water rights 
promulgated by the Commissioner reads as follows : 

"That the regulations governing final proofs in desert land 
entries be modified to require the entryman to show in making 
final proof that he has a right to the use of sufficient water to 
properly irrigate the irrigable land in his entry; that he has done 
all that the laws of the state or territory require him to do for the 
maintenance of that right, and that he has actually used the water 
for the irrigation of the land embraced in his entry." 

It is the rule of the Land Department in all agricultural land 
cases to accept the testimony of a claimant and two witnesses 
in all matters that do not require record evidence. After desert 
claimants have secured from the office of the State Engineer a 
copy of their permits, with the notation thereon that report of 
completion was filed upon a certain date, it would appear that all 
other evidence relating to the diversion of the water, the dams, 
ditches, irrigation, etc., could just as readily be furnished by the 
claimant and witnesses as by a Water Commissioner acting 
through the office of the State Engineer, and it is believed -that 
such proof would be accepted by the Land Department. 

In taking final proofs upon desert land entries, clerks of eourt 
and United States Commissioners should exercise great care in 
taking the evidence of claimants and witnesses in the matter of 
water rights. The testimony should be as full and complete as it 
is possible to get it, covering in detail all the points mentioned in 
the foregoing requirements. 

ISOLATED TRACTS. 

When a tract of government land, containing less than 160 
acres, is entirely surrounded by deeded lands or lands applied for 
under any of the provisions of law, the said tract is deemed an 
isolated tract and may be purchased at not less than from $1.25 
to $2.50 per acre. The applicant must make a deposit to cover 
the advertising expense and must bid the land in at public auction. 
If the land is within the railroad limits, a minimum price of $2.50 
per acre is charged. 

Each application for the purchase of any isolated tract is 
subjected to the most rigid scrutiny by the Department, and all 
answers to questions must be reduced to writing, signed and sworn 
to before the Register or Receiver, who will, in addition make 
inquiries as to the good faith of the applicant and his purpose in 
having the lands ordered into market. No sale will be authorized 
upon the application of a person who has purchased, under section 
2445 R. S., or the amendments thereof, any lands, the area of 
which when added to the land applied for shall exceed approxi- 



GOVERNMENT LANDS 135 

mately 160 acres, and no sale will be authorized for more than 
approximately 160 acres embraced in one application. 

TIMBER AND STONE ACT. 

The Act of Congress of June 3, 1878, as amended by the Act 
of August 4, 1892, provides for the sale of timber or stone lands, 
each qualified person or association being entitled to enter 160 
acres. The land must be chiefly valuable for timber or stone and 
unfit for cultivation at the time of the sale! It must be unreserved, 
unappropriated, uninhabited and without improvements, except 
for ditch or canal purposes, save such as were made by or belong to 
the applicant. Mineral lands cannot be taken under the act. 
One entry only can be taken by a person or an association of 
persons. In case of an association of persons, each member must 
be a qualified entryman; that is, a citizen of the United States or 
one who has declared his intention to become a citizen. A married 
woman may take a timber and stone claim, but must furnish 
evidence that she is purchasing the same from her own individual 
funds. 

In the case of timber and stone entries the government 
requires that the entire purchase price shall be paid down at the 
time of making final proof, which must be offered within ninety 
days of the time of filing the sworn statement in the land office. 
The purchase price is confiscated by the government in case fraud 
is proved. The only other expense, in addition to the $2.50 per 
acre for the land, is the Register and Receiver's fee of ten dollars 
and the cost of reducing the testimony to writing, about $2.50. 
The total expense of acquiring title to 160 acres of land under this 
act is approximately $432 . 50. 

To acquire title to land under this act, it must be clearly 
established that it is more valuable for either timber or stone, as 
the case may be, than for any other purpose. If the land is taken 
for timber, it must be proved that there is timber thereon which 
renders it more valuable therefor than for any other purpose for 
which it might be used. It has been held by the Secretary of the 
Interior that " timber," as the word is used in said act, refers to 
such trees as are valuable for commercial purposes, and does not 
include trees that are valuable only as cord wood. 

Where entries are taken for stone, they may include limestone 
or slate. It must be shown in every case, however, that the land 
is more valuable for the stone it contains than for any other pur- 
pose. 

No residence is required on a timber and stone claim, and 
patent can be secured in about a year's time, where there is no 
taint of fraud connected with the application or proof. 



136 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

MINES AND MINERAL LANDS. 

Lands valuable for deposits of mineral, such as fire and pot- 
tery clay, marble, asphalt, soda, sulphur, diamonds or of the 
precious common metals, are subject to sale under the mining 
laws. A location must be first duly made and recorded, and cer- 
tain sums must be annually expended. Five hundred dollars' 
worth of labor and improvements must be laid out on each claim 
before patent can be applied for. The rules and regulations and 
methods of procedure are too extensive and complex to be re- 
viewed at length in the compass of this brief article. Mining lo- 
cations defeat all railroad and state selections, if the mines and 
minerals were known to exist, or were discovered prior to the date 
of government survey and the lands marked mineral, or the time 
the road and state claims took effect. Homestead, desert and 
timber and stone entries cannot embrace known mineral lands, 
unless it can be first shown that the lands sought to be entered 
are more valuable for agricultural purposes than for the mineral 
they contain. 

The extent of the Wyoming coal measures is indicated by .the 
fact that sixteen million acres were withdrawn by the General 
Land Office under orders of the President in 1906. The greater 
portion of this land is now restored to coal entry, but a large area 
near mines now in active operation is still withdrawn. By making 
inquiry at the local land office of the district in which the coal 
land upon which filings are to be made is situated, the applicant 
can secure complete information of the present conditions. 

The United States land offices for the several districts in 
Wyoming are as follows: Albany, Carbon and Laramie Counties, 
and a few townships of southeastern Sweetwater and southeastern 
Fremont County, at Cheyenne, Wyoming; Sweetwater and Uinta 
Counties, at Evanston, Wyoming; Fremont and western Big 
Horn County, at Lander; Johnson, Sheridan and eastern Big 
Horn County, at Buffalo; Crook and Weston, at Sundance; Con- 
verse and Natrona, at Douglas. 

By writing to the Department of Immigration, Cheyenne, 
copies of mining laws of the United States and State of Wyoming, 
as well as other printed matter relative to the irrigation and mining 
enterprises of the state and a large complete map of the state will 
be sent without charge. 



GOVERNMENT RECLAMATION 137 



Government Reclamation 

Wyoming takes pride in the Act of June 17th, 1902, provid- 
ing for the use of the moneys received from the sale of public 
lands for the reclamation of arid lands by the government. Its 
representatives in Congress have advocated government reclama- 
tion for many years, and this act is the result of their tireless 
efforts. All the moneys received from the sale of public lands go 
into a fund for the building of reservoirs and canals for the storage 
of water for irrigation. About fifty millions of dollars have al- 
ready been placed to the credit of this fund, and it is safe to state 
that during the next ten years fully ten millions of dollars will be 
expended in Wyoming under this act, giving opportunity for 
settlers to obtain work while awaiting the delivery of water to 
their homesteads. 

NORTH PLATTE PROJECT. 

The reservoir project, known as the Pathfinder, contemplates 
the building of an immense dam, three miles below the mouth of 
the Sweetwater River on the North Platte River, fifty miles 
above the town of Casper. The dam will be of masonry, con- 
structed in a granite canon about two hundred feet deep, eighty 
feet at the bottom and stie hundred and seventy-five feet at the 
top, covering about twenty-two thousand acres and storing one 
million acre feet of water. The entire flow of the Platte River 
passes through this reservoir and can be stored. The stored 
water will be turned loose and allowed to run down the river to 
the points of diversion of the several canals under contemplation. 
Power may be developed here whenever necessary. The eleva- 
tion of the reservoir is about fifty-eight hundred feet above sea 
level. 

CANALS. 

The first canal, contemplated below the reservoir, heads about 
eight miles above the town of Casper, on the south side of the riv- 
er, and extends easterly to a point about opposite Douglas, Wyo- 
ming. The amount of land under the canal is about 30,000 acres. 
Preliminary surveys and estimates only have been made. These 



138 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

estimates show that the cost of reclamation will probably exceed 
$25 per acre. Most of the land is in private ownership. The 
second canal is on the north side of the river, heading about oppo- 
site Glenrock and extending to Orin. It controls about 20,000 
acres. The cost will probably be in excess of $25. Most of this 
land is in private ownership. Preliminary surveys only have 
been made. 

The Contemplated Goshen Hole Canal heads at the town of 
Guernsey, where a diversion dam 100 feet high is necessary. The 
length of the canal will be about 140 miles, of which six miles will 
be in tunnel. The area of land covered is about 150,000 acres, a 
large part being public land. The cost of reclamation has not 
been definitely determined, but it will probably be in the neigh- 
borhood of $35 per acre. The feasibility of the canal has not yet 
been passed upon, further investigation being necessary. 

Fort Laramie Canal, heading about eight miles above old 
Fort Laramie, on the south side of the river, covers some 50,000 
acres, about equally divided between Wyoming and Nebraska. 
Twenty-five thousand acres are included in the estimate of* the 
150,000 acres under the Goshen Hole Canal. Preliminary sur- 
veys only have been made, but the indications are that the project 
is feasible. 

The Interstate Canal heads at the same point as the Fort 
Laramie Canal, namely, eight miles above old Fort Laramie. 
There will be a diversion dam of concrete, 300 feet long, raising 
water ten feet above the bed of the river. This canal will be an 
enlargement of the Whalen Falls Canal. About 20,000 acres 
lying under the canal will be irrigated by the Whalen Falls Canal 
Company. Water is now available for this land. 

Forty-five miles of canal in Wyoming have been construct- 
ed, and it is expected that the contract for the next fifty miles of 
canal will cover some 10,000 acres in Wyoming and some 50,000 
acres in Nebraska, almost all of which is public land. The canal, 
when completed, will cover probably 100,000 acres of land and it 
is hoped that it will extend as far east as Bridgeport. The cost 
per acre will probably not exceed $35. The Whalen Falls Canal 
has a priority calling for 280 cubic feet per second of water, but 
has no reservoir right. It is proposed to build all the laterals 
from the main canal, reaching practically every farm area. These 
farm areas will probably consist of eighty acres of good arable 
land, the homestead entry being limited to that amount. It is 
also proposed to build other canals on both sides of the river in 
Nebraska, probably by the extension of existing canals. This 
matter has not been investigated, but it is hoped to bring 50,000 
acres more under cultivation by this means. The area to be irri- 



GOVERNMENT RECLAMATION 139 

gated, especially that in Nebraska and in the Goshen Hole, is 
comparable with land in and ahout Greeley, Colorado. The ele- 
vation is about 4,000 feet and the rainfall about thirteen inches 
per annum. The character of the soil is a sandy loam, with little 
alkali and little adobe. The Burlington railroad runs the entire 
length of the Goshen Hole and Interstate Canal lands. It is some 
500 miles from Omaha and some 250 miles from Denver. The 
prevailing winds are from the northwest. The mean temperature 
is about 45°, with a maximum of 98° and a minimum of 20°. 
Humidity, 66 per cent. The evaporation over the area to be 
irrigated is about the same as for Eastern Colorado. Corn is 
successfully grown, frosts seldom interfering with its maturing. 

SHOSHONE PROJECT. 

Works Proposed — The storage reservoir will be on Shoshone 
River, in Township 52 North, Range 103 West. It includes the 
lower portions of the North and South Forks of the river. Ca- 
pacity at proposed flow line, 230 feet above bottom of river chan- 
nel, 456,000 acre feet. Area of flooded area, 6,600 acres. Mean 
depth, 69 feet. 

The storage dam is located at the head of Shoshone Canon in 
Section 7, Township 52 North, Range 102 West. It will be sev- 
enty-five feet long at bottom of river channel, 200 feet long on 
top, and about 300 feet in height above its foundation, which is 
about sixty feet below the bottom of the river channel. It will be 
an arched dam of concrete. Waste way will be 250 feet in length 
and connecting with a tunnel through the granite wall, which 
will discharge the surplus water into the river bed below the dam. 

There will be two outlet conduits, leaving the reservoir at ten 
feet and sixty feet, respectively, above the bed of the river. The 
one leaving the reservoir at the elevation of ten feet will be a tunnel 
ten feet by ten feet in cross-section, 500 feet in length, and will 
discharge the water, which will be controlled by suitable gates, 
into the river channel below the dam, from which point it will 
flow down the channel to the lower diversion point near Corbett, 
a distance of sixteen miles. The upper conduit will be divided 
into four sections. Section 1 will be six feet by seven feet through 
granite, 3,230 feet in length, grade 2.64 feet per mile, capacity 500 
second-feet. Section 2 will be a tunnel through granite and sand- 
stone, 2,593 feet in length, and will have the same cross-section, 
grade and capacity as Section 1. Between Sections 1 and 2 suit- 
able waste gates will be placed. The water in Sections 1 and 2 
will be under pressure from the reservoir. Section 3 will be an 
open cut, fourteen feet wide on the bottom; side slopes, 1^ to 1; 
depth of water, 7 feet; grade, 2.112 feet per mile; length, 3,000 
feet; capacity, 500 second-feet. Section 4 will be a tunnel through 



140 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

limestone, with concrete lining; cross-section, 8 feet by 8 feet; 
grade, 7.92 feet per mile; length, 8,600 feet; capacity, 500 second- 
feet. At the end of this section the conduit reaches the upper 
portion of the irrigable land. 

Canal Lines — High line starts from lower end of outlet tun- 
nel. Bottom width, 26 feet; depth, 6 feet; side slopes, 1 in 2; 
grade, 1.056 feet per mile; capacity, 500 second-feet; length, 22 
miles. Will irrigate 20,000 acres. At Eaglenest Creek it will be 
divided into three main laterals for irrigation of 20,000 acres north 
of Ralston. Low line canal heads in Shoshone River, sixteen 
miles below the damsite, or near Corbett station. A low diver- 
sion dam is already built. The first section will be a tunnel three 
and one-half miles long through sandstone and shale and will be 
lined. Water section will be 10 feet by 10 feet; grade, 6 feet per 
mile; capacity, 1,000 second-feet. Below the tunnel the water 
will enter the main low-line canal which will extend to Frannie, a 
distance of forty-two miles, irrigating 80,000 acres. For ten miles 
the section of the canal will be: Bottom width, 38 feet; depth, 
7.5 feet; side slopes, 1 in 2; grade, 1.056 feet per mile; capacity, 
1,000 second-feet. Below this point the canal will be gradually 
decreased in size. 

The total area of the reclaimed land will be about 120,000 
acres. It is announced that 30,000 acres will be available for 
entry on May 1, 1908, at a cost of $45 per acre for water rights, no 
interest being charged on deferred payments. Practically all this 
land is public domain, and is, therefore, subject to the conditions 
of the reclamation act. The farm unit has not been determined. 

Roads — A wagon road from the lower end of Shoshone Canon 
to the damsite, a distance of four miles, has been built. The road 
will be extended around the reservoir to replace the portion of the 
road between Cody and Yellowstone Park, which will be covered 
by the reservoir. 

Location — Big Horn County, Wyoming. Latitude, from 44° 
30' to 45° N.; longitude, from 108° 30' to 109° 20' W. Townships 
52 to 58 North, Ranges 96 to 103 West of 6th Principal Meridian. 
The town of Cody is in the upper portion of this tract. The Cody 
branch of the Burlington railroad traverses the tract. Distances 
by rail from Cody via Burlington railroad: 

To Omaha, 982 miles. 

To Chicago, 1,461 miles. 

Topography — Irrigable lands are gently rolling bench lands; 
elevation, 4,000 to 5,000 feet. The drainage area above Cody is 
1,480 square miles; above the damsite, 1,380 square miles. It 
includes the eastern slope of the Continental Divide in Yellowstone 
Park; elevation, 10,000 to 12,000 feet. The major part of the 



GOVERNMENT RECLAMATION 141 

drainage area is in Yellowstone Park and the Yellowstone Forest 
Reserve. 

Climate — Rainfall, from 8 to 16 inches. Run-off at Cody 
during 1903 was 1,027,900 feet, or 13 inches. Prevailing direction 
of winds is from the west. Temperature: Maximum, 95; mini- 
mum, 20; mean, 42°. Humidity, 65 per cent. 

Agricultural Possibilities. — Value of non-irrigated lands, $1.25 
per acre. Value of irrigated lands, $25 to $75 per acre. Types 
of soil, clay and sandy. Crops, alfalfa (two crops), oats, wheat, 
barley and vegetables. Range lands, ample. Fuel, coal, widely 
distributed. 

WIND RIVER RESERVATION. 

By Act of Congress of March 3rd, 1905, part of the Shoshone 
or Wind River Reservation was opened for settlement under the 
Homestead Act in July, 1906. The portion ceded to the gov- 
ernment and opened for settlement embraces the land lying north 
and east of the Big Wind River, and is to be disposed of only un- 
der the provisions of the homestead, town site, coal and mineral 
land laws of the United States. The land lies at an elevation of 
from forty-three hundred to six thousand feet. Nearly three 
hundred thousand acres of virgin land can be irrigated from the 
great Wind River, one of the sources of the Missouri River, with 
two thousand square miles of timbered mountains and their vast 
snow banks, with lakes and reservoirs holding three hundred 
thousand acre feet of water, as the source of water supply. 

The Wyoming Central Irrigation Company, a corporation 
organized under the laws of Wyoming, is under contract with the 
State to build a canal system covering all the lands which can be 
irrigated. Water rights, together with a proportionate interest 
in the canals and reservoirs, are sold at $30.00 per acre on ten 
years' time, payable $3.00 per acre down, and balance in ten equal 
annual payments, with six per cent, interest. When the water 
rights have been sold, the system will be turned over to the man- 
agement of the settlers under the canal. This reservation was 
selected by the Indians on account of its having a mild and equa- 
ble climate, live stock being able to run at large all winter. The 
Wyoming Central Company has established experimental farms 
for the information and instruction of the settlers, as to the value 
of various crops, character of soil and best methods of irrigation. 
Tributary to these irrigable lands is a vast area of grazing lands, 
two hundred miles square, where five hundred thousand sheep and 
one hundred thousand cattle can be grazed, which can all be fat- 
tened for market on the products of the farms in this tract. This 
farming district is surrounded by mineral districts containing 



142 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

coal, copper, oil, gold, building stone, marble, shale suitable for 
Portland cement manufacture, limestone and brick shales. The 
thriving town of Riverton has been built up, and the land under 
the first lateral constructed by the company, some fifteen thou- 
sand acres, has been filed upon, as well as many thousands of acres 
for which laterals have not yet been constructed. There are 
thousands of acres of valuable land open for settlement, and, by 
writing to the company at Riverton, pamphlets containing full 
description of the lands can be secured. The railroads give home- 
seekers rates twice a month, the land being directly tributary to 
the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, which passes through Sh@- 
shoni, Riverton and Lander. 

HOW TO MAKE ENTRY. 

"All persons making homestead entries in said reservation 
within two years after the opening are required to pay $1.50 per 
acre, but in homestead entries made thereafter, the sum of $1.25 
is to be paid. Fifty cents per acre is to be paid at the time of mak- 
ing the entry, and twenty-five cents per acre annually thereafter 
until the price provided for has been fully paid. Lands entered 
under the townsite, coal and mineral land laws must be paid for 
in amount and manner as provided by said laws. 

" Notices of location of mineral entries are required to be filed 
in the local land offices of the district in which the land is situated, 
and unless entry and payment shall be made within three years 
from the date of location, all rights thereunder shall cease. 

"In case any entryman fails to make any payments for the 
land as provided, within the time stated, all rights covered by such 
entries shall cease, and payments which have been theretofore 
made will be forfeited and the entry held for cancellation. 

"Commutation of homestead entry may be made of these 
lands under Section 2301, R. S., but the parties will be required 
to pay the price for the land, as fixed by the act. 

"After the expiration of five years from the date of the open- 
ing, all the lands then undisposed of, except mineral and coal 
land, shall be sold to the highest bidder for cash at not less than 
$1 per acre, and any of such lands remaining unsold after eight 
years from the time of opening may be sold to the highest bidder 
for cash, without regard to the minimum limit of price. 

"The ceded portion embraces about two-thirds of the land 
within said reservation and contains approximately 1,150,000 
acres." 

HOW TO OBTAIN A RIGHT TO THE USE OF WATER. 

The applicant must survey his ditch line and determine the 
lands which can be irrigated. Blanks for making application can 



RAILROADS AND STAGE ROUTES 143 

be secured from the State Engineer's office at Cheyenne, and, 
when correctly filled out and accompanied by maps, in duplicate, 
showing the necessary information, accompanied by the filing fee 
of S2.00, will be considered by the State Engineer and, if the wa- 
ter applied for is not already appropriated, a permit will be 
granted. The applicant will be notified of the further proceed- 
ings required before final appropriation is made. 

If the land for which water is desired has been segregated 
under the Arid Land Act or is included in water permit granted 
for a canal already constructed or in course of construction, the 
applicant must purchase a water right, which includes a propor- 
tionate interest in the canal or irrigation system from the com- 
pany or person holding the permit. If the water is not used for 
beneficial purposes for a period of five years, the right is deemed 
abandoned and a new permit may be issued for other lands or for 
the same land to other parties. 

Full particulars in regard to all matters concerning water 
can be secured by application to the State Engineer, Cheyenne, 
Wyoming. 



Railroads and Stage Routes 



During the past year the whole transportation situation in 
Wyoming has been changed, and even greater changes and im- 
provements must result from the new lines and extensions made 
necessary by the rapid developments in all lines which improved 
transportation conditions have made possible in nearly every sec- 
tion of the state. 

Tourists passing through Wyoming on the transcontinental 
railroads see little of the agricultural portion of the state, as the 
railroads for the most part run on the divides between water- 
courses, while the farming settlements and irrigated lands, as in all 
semi-arid regions, are in the valleys of the rivers and creeks. The 
Union Pacific runs across the southern portion of the state for 
468.97 miles, connecting at Green River with the Oregon Short 
Line for Oregon and the Northern Pacific country. The Colorado 
and Southern has a line running from Cheyenne to Orin Junction, 
153.68 miles, connecting with the Chicago and Northwestern 
branch, running from Chadron to Casper, with a trackage of 130.43 
miles in Wyoming. 

The Wyoming and Northwestern railroad is the extension of 



144 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

the Northwestern system from Casper to Lander, 149 miles, reach- 
ing all points in the new Shoshone Reservation country and cen- 
tral Wyoming. 

The Burlington Route has four branch lines entering the 
state — twenty-nine miles of the Cheyenne and Hoi dredge line; 
236.59 miles of the main line from Lincoln, Neb., to Billings, Mon- 
tana, running through Newcastle and Sheridan, connecting at 
Toluca, Montana, with the branch line to Cody, Wyoming, a dis- 
tance of 129 miles (44.61 in Wyoming), and the line from Frannie 
to Kirby, via Basin and Worland, 114 miles, and by which all 
points in the Big Horn Basin may be reached; and 41.32 miles of 
the line from Alliance up the Platte River to Guernsey, Wyoming. 
The Colorado and Wyoming ore road, 14.55 miles long, connects 
the Colorado and Southern and Burlington roads with the iron 
mines at Sunrise. 

The Laramie, Hahn's Peak and Pacific railroad is completed 
as far as Centennial, 30 miles, and connections made there for all 
camps in the Medicine Bow Range. 

The Saratoga & Encampment Railway is completed from 
Walcott, on the Union Pacific Railroad, to Encampment, 44 miles, 
and a regular schedule is maintained between this latter point and 
Saratoga, distant 24 miles. 

There is a coal road, 6.6 miles of which is in Wyoming, from 
Belle Fourche to Aladdin, and another nineteen miles long from 
Diamondville to Spring Valley. 

Stage lines cover the state thoroughly. Daily stages running 
from Laramie to North Park, Colorado, carry mail and passen- 
gers to points on the Big Laramie River. 

From Encampment daily stages leave for Battle, twelve 
miles; Rambler, fourteen miles, and Dillon, nineteen miles; and 
connections are made for camps south or near the state line and 
Pearl, Colorado, about thirty miles. 

Livery teams and saddle horses may be had here for different 
parts of the district not reached by stage. 

From Saratoga the different points in the Elk Mountain vi- 
cinity may be reached by team, and also a number of the camps 
on Spring Creek and Jack Creek. 

For Dillon and Rudefeha, where the Ferris-Haggarty mine 
is located, connections by team may also be made from Rawlins, 
the county seat of Carbon County, on the Union Pacific railroad, 
a distance of fifty-two miles, over a good road. 

From Lander stages run to Fort Washakie daily, connecting 
with other stages for Dubois, Circle and Union, all being points 
in the Wind River Range and on the road to the Jackson Lake 
country. 

Stages also run from Lander to South Pass City and Atlantic, 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES 145 

connecting at Dallas with another line for Meyersville, Haile} r ; 
Rongis and other points in central Wyoming. 

Daily stages are maintained between Shoshoni, on the Wyo- 
ming and Northwestern R. R., and Thermopolis, via Birdseye, on 
Copper Mountain, and between Thermopolis and Kirby, on the 
Burlington. 

The most direct way into the Sunlight country is from Cody, 
by way of Hart Mountain, Pat O'Hara Creek, Dead Indian Hill 
and Sunlight Creek, the road having been built up the latter creek 
as far as the mouth of Galena Creek. From this road trails for 
pack animals lead up to Sulphur Creek, up Galena Creek, and 
thence over and around the mountain to the mines in Hughes Ba- 
sin and Silver Tip Basin, on the west side of Stinking Water Peak. 

The new road just constructed by the United States Govern- 
ment from Cody to the National Park, and which, by the way, is 
one of the finest and most picturesque roads in the west, runs 
within twenty miles of Silver Tip Basin, with a good road from 
the mouth of Jones Creek to the Basin. Two hotels have been 
constructed on this Park route and daily stages run over the new 
scenic road during the Park season. 

Other lines leave Rawlins for Dixon and Baggs and the Snake 
River, Colorado, country; from Casper to central Wyoming; Clear- 
mont to Buffalo; Moorcroft to Sundance; Moneta to Lost Cabin; 
Basin to Burlington, Shell, Hyattville, Bonanza and Ten Sleep; 
Cody to Meeteetsee; Thermopolis to Anchor; connecting with mail 
routes; Sheridan to interior points in Sheridan and Johnson 
Counties. Stage lines run from Opal to Big Piney, connecting 
with interior points. 



Manufacturing Industries 



At the present time we have five hundred manufacturing 
establishments in Wyoming, representing an investment of over 
four million dollars. Such a small amount of the natural resour- 
ces of the State is being utilized that capital may consider Wy- 
oming as a virgin field. While the Colorado Fuel and Iron Com- 
pany of Pueblo is supplied with iron from the mines at Guernse} r , 
Wyoming, yet there are still sufficient mines there to render pos- 
sible the establishment of an even greater plant upon the Platte 



146 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

River, in close proximity to Guernsey. Within thirty miles nat- 
ural gas is found, which could be used for reducing the ore, while 
limestone is found in the near vicinity. 

Shale suitable for Portland cement is found in many places 
in the State. 

Copper is found in almost all of our mountains, and gold, dis- 
covered at the time of the California emigration, is now being- 
developed in many widely separated mines. 

Wonderful onyx has been found in unlimited quantities in 
northern Laramie County, and also near Cokeville, in Uinta 
County. 

Near Laramie, Wyoming, a natural cement plaster furnishes 
material for two large mills which run night and day. 

Plaster of Paris is manufactured at Red Buttes in Albany 
County, and the product of this mill received the gold medal at 
the Chicago Exposition. The exhibit of various building stones 
and marbles at St. Louis attracted wide attention to the possi- 
bilities of quarrying and finishing these materials. 

Coal and oil are found in almost every county in the State. 
The President, in 1906, by proclamation, withdrew, temporarily, 
sixteen million acres of coal land from entry pending investiga- 
tion by the Department of the Interior. This tract comprises 
nearly one-quarter of the area of the State of Wyoming, and did 
not cover many known coal fields. While much of this land is 
now some distance from railroad transportation, yet as the ex- 
ploitation of Wyoming has but just commenced, there is oppor- 
tunity to secure lands which will be valuable in the future. The 
Hanna, Rock Springs, Cumberland and Kemmerer mines in 
southern Wyoming, Big Muddy, Glenrock and Hudson mines in 
central Wyoming, Newcastle, Sheridan and Gebo mines in northern 
Wyoming, produce enormous amounts of excellent coal. 

Oil is found in the Salt Creek fields north of Casper, near 
Lander, in Weston, Big Horn and Uinta Counties, and excellent 
indications are found in almost all of the other counties. 

Natural gas is found in commercial quantities at Douglas, in 
AConverse County, at Greybull and Byron in Big Horn County, 
and at a number of places in Fremont Count}^, as well as in a 
number of other localities where it has been noted but no develop- 
ment for commercial use has yet taken place. 

A pipe line from the Lander fields to the Northwestern Rail- 
road is now under contemplation, in order to enable the Lander 
oils to be placed upon the market. 

Over two hundred varieties of illuminating and. lubricating 
oils, in addition to by-products of great value, have been manu- 
factured from the natural oils of central Wyoming. 



EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES 147 

Nearly every town of importance in the State has a flouring 
mill, which finds profitable trade in milling the cereals of this 
region. At Laramie a large grain elevator is projected and ex- 
periments with the new variety of wheat adapted for the shorter 
season of the high altitudes are now being made, with every 
indication that a large and profitable cereal business will be the 
result. 

The Wyoming soils, supplemented by the hot sun and cool 
nights of the growing season, render many districts particularly 
desirable for the growing of sugar beets. Factories are now con- 
templated in the Big Horn Basin, near Sheridan, and at Wheat- 
land, in Laramie County. As high as twenty-four tons per acre 
of beets have been produced in experiments in different parts of 
the State, which have returned a percentage of sugar from 15.25 
per cent, to 18.36. 

No State has more opportunities for the construction of 
water power plants. Hundreds of mountain streams are avail- 
able and but few power plants have yet been constructed. 

Remember that Wyoming has been handicapped in the past 
by lack of transportation facilities, and that, during the next few 
years, its growth will be phenomenal. 



Educational Advantages 



The State of Wyoming is notable for the educational advan- 
tages it gives the children of its citizens. In educational matters 
it leads many of the older states, in that it employs a larger num- 
ber of teachers in proportion to its population; that its school 
year is longer; that the salaries paid its teachers, especially those 
paid women teachers, are higher, and that its school methods are 
at all times kept in unison and harmony with the latest and best 
in modern education. 

The amount of ,funds raised in Wyoming for school purposes 
by voluntary taxation is liberal, and expenditures in educational 
matters are not stinted. The district school board provides free 
text-books for all pupils. The latest and most approved text- 
books have been purchased and supplied to every school district 
in the State. The result of this liberality and of the careful atten- 
tion given the schools of the State by its citizens and school offi- 
cers has been to keep the percentage of illiteracy in Wyoming 



148 THE STATE OP WYOMING 

below that of any other State or Territory. A practical illustra- 
tion of this was shown at the muster of troops in the State for ser- 
vice in the Spanish war. Of 1,000 young men who enlisted in 
Wyoming, not one was unable to sign his name to the muster roll, 
and every man had received a fair education. 

The last school census showed that there were 26,794 school 
children in the State. These are in attendance at 706 schools. 
Sparsely settled communities in Wyoming enjoy equal school 
facilities with more thickly settled regions. It is the universal 
custom in the State to establish a school if five pupils can attend. 
A compulsory school law is on the statute books, but it has never 
been found necessary to enforce it; as school attendance is vol- 
untary. 

The number of teachers employed in the State is about 700. 
The salaries paid teachers in Wyoming average $74.14 per month 
for male teachers and $49.50 for female, which, when it is con- 
sidered that the country schools of the State form the great ma- 
jority of the entire number, compare most favorably with salaries 
paid in other states. 

The 509 school buildings of the State are well built and com- 
fortable. The cost of construction has been over $700,000.00, and 
repairs and improvements amounting to ten thousand dollars 
are made annually. As the sparsely settled communities of the 
State grow, the primitive log building which at first constitutes 
the school house gives place to the neat frame or brick structure 
with all the modern apparatus for successful educational work. 

One of the most valuable aids to the support and mainten- 
ance of the public school system of Wyoming is the fund received 
annually from the rental of school lands. During the year ending 
March 31st, 1908, the sum of $125,000.00 was received from this 
source and distributed to the school officers of each county in 
proportion to the number of pupils in each. School libraries in 
the different counties contain over 23,600 volumes. The total 
acreage of school land in the State which may be utilized for this 
purpose is 3,600,000 acres. It may reasonably be expected that 
sufficient income will be received from the rental of school lands 
within the near future to increase the efficiency of the schools of 
the State to the highest degree, and this without imposing addi- 
tional burdens upon the taxpayer. 

The State of Wyoming has at the present time in its Common 
School Permanent Land Fund two hundred and fifty-five thou- 
sand, six hundred forty-eight and 67-100 dollars ($255,648.67). 
This fund arises from the proceeds of sales of school lands and a 
percentage on the sales of all U. S. Lands within the State. This 
is a permanent fund, and cannot be expended, but the State 



EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES 149 

Treasurer is authorized and directed by law to invest this fund 
in bonds issued by School Districts, or registered County bonds of 
the State, or State securities of this State, or of the United States. 
There is now invested in securities of the character above named 
about $220,000.00, which is yielding a revenue of approximately 
$11,000.00 per annum. This interest, together with rentals of 
State lands not sold, constitutes the "Common School Land In- 
come Fund," which is annually distributed for the benefit of the 
public schools of the State. 

The University of "Wyoming. 

The University of Wyoming is a part of the free public edu- 
cational system of the State. The governing body of the insti- 
tution is a Board of Trustees appointed by the Governor for a 
term of six years, as provided in the Constitution of the State. 
In accordance with the law of the State, the University aims to 
complete and crown the work that is begun in the public schools 
by furnishing ample facilities for liberal education in litera- 
ture, science and art; and for professional studies in mining, me- 
chanical and irrigation engineering, agriculture and commerce. 

The College of Liberal Arts (including the Graduate School) 
offers a four years' course in the study of literature, art and sci- 
ence, and affords opportunity to those who wish to carry their 
studies beyond the limit of the regular course. 

For the benefit of those who wish to be trained for some spe- 
cial profession, four schools are provided, viz., the Normal School, 
the School of Mines, the College of Agriculture and the College of 
Mechanical Engineering. These courses are designed to give a 
thorough and practical preparation for the professions most in 
demand in Wyoming. 

The School of Commerce offers a four years' course in com- 
mercial methods and practice. The four years' course includes, 
also, a thorough preparation for the freshman class of the College 
of Liberal Arts. 

The School of Music offers a seven years' course in piano and 
vocal training. 

The Summer School offers courses running for six weeks in 
preparatory, collegiate and normal studies. The work is adapted 
especially for teachers. 

The University is founded and maintained for the purpose 
of being as useful as possible to the people of Wyoming. A uni- 
versity has a double duty. It is to advance human knowledge 
and to teach that which is already known. The University of 
Wyoming, therefore, devotes its attention not onfy to the study 



150 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

of problems of general interest and theoretical importance, but 
especially to the solution of those practical problems which con- 
front the people of this new and undeveloped State. A state uni- 
versity, too, cannot confine its teachings to the students within 
its halls, but must endeavor as far as possible to supply to those 
who ask for it impartial and reliable information on any of the 
problems which confront the people of this new and undeveloped 
State. 

Besides the instruction of students in residence, the Univer- 
sity is able to extend its educational advantages to a considerable 
extent to the people of the State generally, both by lectures and 
correspondence. It should be understood that the library, mu- 
seums and laboratories of the University are for the benefit of 
everybody in the State; and as far as the time of the members of 
the faculty permits, they are willing to give help in such ways as 
advice in the choice of books, arranging courses of private reading 
and study, naming plants, minerals and insects, and giving infor- 
mation on the natural resources of the State and how to use them. 

Buildings — The first building to be erected on the campus 
was the Liberal Arts building. It is 150 feet in length and 50 feet 
in breadth, having three stories and a commodious garret and 
store room, above the basement. The material used in its con- 
struction is native sandstone. The rooms, twenty-eight in num- 
ber, as well as all the corridors, are heated by steam and lighted 
by electricity. The auditorium in the second story is the finest 
Assembly hall in the State, and will seat with comfort four hun- 
dred people. 

A second building, costing $12,000, with a commodious wing, 
was completed in the spring of 1893 for the College of Mechanical 
Engineering. Another large wing was added in the summer of 
1897. The Mechanical building is constructed of the same mate- 
rial as the Liberal Arts building, and contains twelve rooms. The 
new wing of the Mechanical building has been fitted up for the 
use of the School of Mines. About $12,000 has already been 
spent in equipping the building with tools and machinery. 

A third building, known as the Hall of Science, was com- 
pleted in 1903. The building has been so planned that wings may 
be added as more room shall be needed. The portion of the 
building already constructed is 50x80 feet, with a two-story ex- 
tension on the rear, and cost $39,000. In this building are located 
the University Museum, rich in fossils, especially of the Jurassic 
period; the Rocky Mountain Herbarium, containing 50,000 spec- 
imens, and the laboratories of biology, geology and chemistry. 

The Armory and Gymnasium was erected in 1903 at a cost 
of $15,000. It is a brick structure with stone trimmings. The 



EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES 151 

entire floor, covering a space of 45x90 feet, is available for com- 
pany drill and team work. A running track is suspended from 
the ceiling. The basement of the building, consisting of five 
rooms, is fitted up for office, bath rooms and armory. 

Woman's HalL — The Legislature of 1907 appropriated the 
sum of $25,000 for a woman's building at the University of Wyo- 
ming. This building is now in process of erection and will be 
completed during the summer of 1908. It will afford board and 
lodging, under home surroundings, for about twenty-five girls. 
The building will be in charge of the Adviser for Women, avIio will 
reside in the hall. It is expected that the expenses will not exceed 
$20 per month. 

Domestic Economy ♦ — The first floor of the Woman's Hall is 
to contain the laboratory and practice dining room for the study 
of domestic science and a laboratory for domestic art and other 
forms of handcraft. A four-year college course in domestic econ- 
omy. leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science, has been organ- 
ized. Short courses and special work will be given for those who 
do not desire the college course. For further information in 
regard to board and room and courses of study, address Miss 
Minnie A. Stoner, Adviser for Women, University of Wyoming, 
Laramie. 

Equipment — Since the founding of the institution more than 
$100,000 has been expended for apparatus in the different scien- 
tific departments. The museum has a large and valuable col- 
lection of fossils. The herbarium contains the largest collection 
of Rocky Mountain flora in existence. The shops are well equipped 
for woodwork, ironwork, founding and forging. In the assaying 
department students have the use of three single and one double 
furnace, a steam rock breaker, a hand crusher, sampling mill, six 
pulp and three button balances. The University Library con- 
tains 18,000 well selected books, besides a large number of pam- 
phlets. 

Original Research — The Wyoming Experiment Station is 
the department of research of the College of Agriculture of the 
University. The results of its experiments are published in nu- 
merous bulletins, which are sent free on request to residents of the 
State. Some of the bulletins thus far published are: Potatoes, 
Fruit Growing in Wyoming, Cultivated Shade and Forest Trees, 
Some Native Forage Plants for Alkali Soils, Alfalfa as a Hay Crop, 
Wyoming Sugar Beets, Lamb Feeding Experiments, Alkali, Wheat 
Culture. At present the station is carrying on extended experi- 
ments in stock feeding, both in the chemical analysis of forage 
plants and in the digestion of selected rations. 



152 THE STATE OP WYOMING 

The School of Mines has issued several bulletins on the oil 
and mineral resources of the State. 

The Professor of Chemistry at the University is also State 
Chemist. Experiments to detect food adulteration are constantly 
in progress in the laboratories. A number of bulletins have been 
published on this subject. 

Settlers new to the country will find in these university pub- 
lications information, especially as to crops and methods of devel- 
oping our resources, which may save thousands of dollars and 
years of work in fruitless experiments. 

The Support of the University — The University is supported 
by both federal and state aid. The federal aid consists of the 
Morrill grant of 1862 for the endowment of Colleges of Agriculture 
and Mechanical Arts, and the Hatch fund of 1887, for the support 
of studies pertaining to agriculture and the mechanical arts. The 
state aid consists of the f-mill annual tax on the property valua- 
tion of the State, besides special legislative appropriations. There 
is also a small income from University lands. 



Wyoming a Paradise for Hunting and Fishing 



The stringent laws for the protection of fish and game enforced 
in Wyoming during the past fifteen years have made Jackson Hole 
the greatest big game hunting ground in the world. Five thou- 
sand elk were seen there last fall in one day, and the State Game 
Warden is authority for the statement that twenty-five thousand 
wild elk exist in Wyoming to-day, in addition to deer, antelope 
and mountain sheep. 

Lying as this region does, immediately south of the Yellow- 
stone Park, it has been a safe retreat for large game for a number 
of years, and has gradually filled up with the game driven from 
other states. Sportsmen may leave the Union Pacific at any 
point in the western part of the State and outfit for the Jackson 
Hole country. The recent completion of the Chicago & North- 
western Railroad to Lander has placed another avenue of approach 
within easy reach, and hunting parties may outfit at Lander, or 
at Cody, on the Burlington route, and cross the Wind River region 
into the Jackson Hole country. 

Competent guides may be found at any of these places who 
will take parties through the beautiful scenery of the National 
Park, Yellowstone Forest Reserve and Jackson Hole. 

To those who have seen some of the thousands of elk and deer 



WYOMING A PARADISE FOR HUNTING AND FISHING 153 

gathered in Jackson Hole, it is not necessary to make any expla- 
nation; others must satisfy themselves. 

In order to hunt large game or game birds, a hunter must 
procure a license. To an elector of Wyoming, or a soldier or sailor 
stationed at a Government Post for the year past, a license is is- 
sued upon payment of $2. For a non-resident the fee is $5 for a 
gunner's license permitting the hunting of game birds, and $50 
for a hunter's license for the killing of game animals. Non-resi- 
dent hunters must be accompanied by a licensed guide when hunt- 
ing game animals. 

During the open season licensed parties may kill not to ex- 
ceed one elk, two deer, one antelope and one mountain sheep be- 
tween September 15 and November 15, and not more than twelve 
game birds in any one day. The barter or sale of any part of the 
animals or birds above mentioned, or the possession of more than 
the specified number, is prohibited under penaky of heavy fine 
or imprisonment. License must be carried and shown upon re- 
quest. Game killed by licensed non-resident hunters may be shipped 
from the State, upon a certificate from a justice of the peace stating 
that such animals were killed according to law. It is unlawful to 
sell any part of any wild animal, hides, horns or tusks, or to use 
dogs for the purpose of coursing or running the animals above 
mentioned. Taxidermists cannot buy hides, horns or any part 
of game animals or birds, but mounted birds or stuffed heads and 
horns of animals lawfully killed may be shipped within or without 
the State. 

Open Season. 

Grouse and Sage Chickens — August 1 to September 15. 
Deer, Elk, Antelope and Mountain Sheep — September 15 to 
November 15. 

Snipe, Plover, Ducks and Geese — September 1 to May 1. 

What of the Art of Angling? 

Wyoming is the natural home of the trout. Nature planted 
them in the headwaters of the Colorado and Missouri. The North 
Platte and its tributaries were neglected, but the state fish hatch- 
eries plant several million trout each year, and now almost every 
stream in the State furnishes sport for the fisherman. 

Tourists coming west through Cheyenne and Denver will 
find splendid trout fishing on the Big or Little Laramie Rivers, 
leaving the Union Pacific at Laramie City. For fishing on the 
Little Laramie they can take the Laramie and Hahn's Peak Rail- 
road to Centennial, where a good hotel has been erected. A little 
farther west the fisherman can leave the Union Pacific train at 
Walcott and take the Saratoga and Encampment Railway to 



154 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

Saratoga, where he may fish in the North Platte River,- running 
through the town, go up stream to some of the ranches which fur- 
nish fishermen with accommodations, or fish down stream, or he 
may go on up to Encampment to fish in the upper river and ad- 
jacent creeks. Brook trout weighing five pounds and rainbow 
trout weighing ten pounds are caught in the Platte near Saratoga. 
Many hundreds of rainbow trout weighing from two to eight 
pounds have been caught within the city limits. 

The North Platte River in Wyoming is also reached by the 
Union Pacific Railroad to Fort Steele, where good trout fishing 
is found, or by the Colorado & Southern or Burlington route to 
Guernsey, where the lower river and second canyon of the Platte 
is of easy access, and where river trout and wall-eyed pike are 
the principal fish. 

At Lander, on the Chicago & Northwestern, there are a 
number of streams within easy reach, some flowing through the 
city, and the fisherman will find ample opportunity for his greatest 
skill. 

Tourists passing through the northern part of the State over 
the Burlington Route will find excellent fishing near Sheridan, and 
those taking the Cody Route to the National Park will stop near 
some of the finest trout streams in the west. 

There is no sport like fishing to soothe the over-wrought 
nerves of the tired and weary professional or business man; the 
man who is tied to his desk with a burden of care from one week's 
end to another. With rod and creel and a well stocked book of 
flies he may fling earthly cares to the wind and enjoy heavenly 
bliss in angling for trout. There is nothing like it to restore health 
of brain and brawn. Many men lose their lives by not regarding 
the necessity of outdoor recreation. 

Picture a scene on one of our streams. The month of August 
is at hand, and mosquitos and flies have ceased to vex. The day 
is dark, a little breeze ripples the still places and the big fish are 
alert for food. Over a steep riffle the water breaks, and dashes 
swiftly into the hole below, swirls, eddies and runs slowly off be- 
neath overhanging willows. An old log is athwart the stream and 
just above, at the upper end of the eddy, is a still place upon which 
the angler has set his heart. Full sixty feet of line is necessary to 
hide the artist from his wary prey. It is swinging in the air. The 
cast is made and the line goes true, the tail fly lighting squarely 
upon the gauged spot. As swift as a flash of light a mighty rain- 
bow leaps from his lair, an involuntary motion of the angler's 
wrist drives the steel barb home and the struggle is on. He is 
high in air. Note his beauty and magnificence. From gill to tail 
his iridescent colors flash back the light. But it is only a look. 
He is back in the water and away, spinning the reel for full seventy- 



THE STATE FAIR 155 

five feet of line despite the "drag." Again he leaps and the great 
test of the expert's skill is here made, for the line may be slacked 
by the sudden stoppage of the mad race, and slack line means loss 
of trout. His rapid movement while above the water appears as 
though he would free himself by a terrific shake, but it is simply 
the movement he would make were he in the water below. Now 
down again and back and forth he dashes across the stream ; then 
with the speed of the wind he rushes full toward the fisherman, 
who must be expert indeed if he takes up the line as fast as he ap- 
proaches. At the upper end of the pool he stops, a few struggles 
are made, and he is reeled to the shore and gently drawn upon the 
sandy beach. He weighs four pounds. What a beauty! How 
often is the story repeated. 



The State Fair 



The Wyoming State Fair is an outgrowth of the Wyoming 
Industrial Convention, organized in 1901, and is a permanent 
organization, the City of Douglas, in Converse County, on the 
Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, being selected as its location. 
Permanent buildings have been erected and three successful fairs 
have been held. During the year 1908 the fourth State Fair will 
be held, and promises to at least equal its predecessors. 

For all information relating to the State Fair, address the 
Secretary Wyoming State Fair, Douglas, Wyoming. 



Frontier Celebration at Cheyenne 



The extension of railroads, the opening of new agricultural 
communities, the development of mining, the evolution of the 
thoroughbred from the long horned steer, are rapidly crowding 
off the scene the old days of the open cattle range and the romance 
of these early days on the frontier would soon fade with the rapidly 
receding past were it not for a unique and remarkable "fiesta" 



156 THE STATE OF WYOMING 

that every year is given at Cheyenne, the capital of the State and 
one of the most famous of the old cow towns of the Far West. 

This celebration is called ' 'Frontier Days" and occupies three 
days during the third week in August of each year, when 
all of the old scenes that have made Wyoming famed in history, 
fiction and drama are re-enacted on their native plains with 
western men as the actors. 

The celebration is in charge of a citizens' committee which 
offers generous prizes, sufficient in size to attract the most skilful 
ropers, the most daring riders and the most spirited horses to be 
found in the West. Even far Hawaii will this year send a repre- 
sentative to contest the honors to be won or defended by the 
Wyoming cowboys. 

The old stage coach which for many years plied its hazardous 
way from Cheyenne to Deadwood and the Black Hills is again 
brought into view and as one of the "old residents" is given a 
prominent place on the program. 

The proximity of Fort Russell where are stationed artillery, 
infantry and cavalry, enables the committee to secure the assist- 
ance of the troops of Uncle Sam in the celebration, and the program 
is frequently enlivened by the exciting maneuvers of artillery at 
full speed, the thunderings of the hoofs of cavalry, or perhaps a 
realistic " brush' ' between a company of infantry and a band of 
Indian braves who never fail to arrive with their squaws and tepees 
to add a picturesque detail to the typically western scene. 

The cattle business has seen many changes since the old days 
of the open range, but it still calls for young men of courage, 
horsemanship, physical strength and agility and mental quickness 
and good judgment. 

The skill of the cowboy today is no less than that of his 
predecessor of the early days and many an old cattleman in the 
grandstand, now perhaps a staid merchant or banker, is stirred 
to heights of enthusiasm by the picture spread before him under 
the brilliant Wyoming sunshine, of the vanished days of his youth 
when the keen rare air of the plains turned the young blood to 
wine, and danger and hardship were but the spice of his daily meat. 

For eleven years this representation of "the West as it was" 
has been presented at Cheyenne, with the result that the old 
grounds where the show was formerly given are outgrown and a 
new park, the property of the city, has been laid out and every 
convenience will be installed for the comfort of the thousands of 
spectators and actors. The new grounds will be first used at the 
celebration of 1908. 

The railroads co-operate in making the show a success and 
low rates to Cheyenne are made during the celebration from all 
points north, east, south and west. 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS 157 

Each year also finds Cheyenne better able to care for the 
thousands of visitors and a typical western welcome awaits the 
tenderfoot who comes to Cheyenne to see the West as it was. 
Counterfeits of this mammoth festival have been given at other 
places from time to time but have aroused only temporary interest, 
leaving Cheyenne to present on a large scale and true to life the 
scenes and episodes that have become an imperishable part of the 
history of the great West. 



Public Buildings 



The Capitol building at Cheyenne is classical in style and 
bears a resemblance to the Capitol at Washington. 

The Wyoming University, located at Laramie, is described • 
under the article on Educational Advantages. 

The State maintains fish hatcheries at Laramie, Sundance and 
Sheridan, which hatcheries each year stock the mountain streams' 
with trout of various varieties. The hatcheries which were main- 
tained at Saratoga and Lander for several years have, for a time, 
been discontinued. 

The Penitentiary building is located at Rawlins. 

The State Deaf, Dumb and Blind Asylum is located at Chey- 
enne, but is not in use on account of the small number of such un- 
fortunates. 

The Insane Asylum is located at Evanston. 

Two General Hospitals are maintained by the State, one at 
Rock Springs for the southern section of the State, and one at 
Sheridan for the northern section of the State. 

The Soldiers' and Sailors' Home is located at Buffalo, where 
the State owns 1,270 acres of rich agricultural land and has build- 
ings worth $100,000. 

Wyoming also possessed a Poor Farm, situated at Lander, 
but, owing to the fact that the State has no poor, the farm and 
the funds which had accumulated from rentals, have been turned 
over for the benefit of a School for Feeble Minded, which will be 
established in the near future near Lander. 



158 THE STATE OF WYOMING 



Taxes and Public Indebtedness 



The wise restrictions in the State Constitution are a sure 
guarantee that in WyoYning taxation will never be excessive, or 
the public debt burdensome. It is there provided that for State 
revenue there shall not be levied to exceed four mills on the dollar 
of the assessed value of property for all state purposes, except for 
the payment of the public debt, with interest, and the support of 
state charitable and educational institutions, and not to exceed 
twelve mills on the dollar for all county purposes, excepting the 
county debt. Special school taxes may be authorized by the 
qualified voters of the several districts. 

The State's original bonded indebtedness was $320,000. This 
is being reduced as rapidly as possible under the conditions of the 
bonds, $140,000 having been paid off during the last seven years, 
leaving now a debt of only $180,000. Each county in the State 
is also paying off its bonded indebtedness. 

Incorporated cities and towns are limited to eight mills on 
the dollar, excepting for the payment of their public debt. The 
state debt is limited to one per cent, of the assessed valuation, 
while two per cent, is the limit on counties, cities and towns. 



ELEVATION OF CITIES AND MOUNTAINS 



159 



Elevation of Cities and Mountains 



CITY 

Alcova . 

Atlantic City 

Buffalo 

Basin 

Battle 

Cambria 

Casper 

Carbon 

Cheyenne 

Cheyenne (Capitol) 

Cody 

Corbett 

Douglas 

Embar 

Encampment 

Evanston 

Fort Laramie 

Fort Steele 

Fort Washakie . . . 
Fort Yellowstone . 

Four Bear 

Garland 

Glendo 

Glenrock 

Green River 

Hanna 



ELEVATION IN FEET 

6,000 

7,850 

4,600 

3.700 

9,866 

5,100 

5,101 

6,821 

6,050 

6,101 

4,900 

4,659 

4,816 

5,900 

7,322 

6,759 

4,270 

6,505 

5,462 

6,370 

6,500 

4,183 

4,716 

4,900 

6,077 

0,788 



CITY ELEVATION IN 

Hyattville 

Jackson Hole 

Jackson Lake 

Kirwin 

Lander 

Laramie 

Lovell 

Lusk 

Medicine Bow 

Meeteetse 

Newcastle 

Otto 

Rambler 

Rawlins 

Riverton (approximately) . . . 

Rock Springs 

Rock Creek 

Sherman 

Sheridan 

Saratoga 

Shoshoni (approximately) .... 

Sundance 

Thermopolis 

Ten Sleep 

Tie Siding 

Wheatland 



FEET 

4,550 
6,820 
6,800 
9,500 
5,372 
7,153 
3,700 
5,007 
6,562 
5,000 
4,319 
4,011 
9,500 
6,744 
5,100 
6,260 
6,704 
8,247 
3,738 
7,000 
5,000 
4,750 
4,350 
4,513 
7,890 
4,700 



NAME 



MOUNTAIN RANGE 



ELEVATION IN FEET 



Big Horn 8,000 to 12,000 

Bradlev Peak Seminoe 9,500 

Bridgeir Peak 1 1,400 

Chimney Rock Wind River 11,853 

Cloud Peak Big Horn 12,500 

Mi. Doane Yellowstone 10,118 

Elk Mountain Medicine Bow 11,511 

Fremont's Peak Wind River 13,790 

Grand Encampment Park 11 ,003 

Grand Teton Teton 13,800 

Index Peak Yellowstone 11,740 

Laramie Peak Laramie 11 ,000 

Laramie Range 7,000 to 9,000 

Medicine Peak Park 12,231 

Medicine Bow Range 8,000 to 12,000 

Mi. Moran .Teton 12.000 

Park Range, in Wyoming 11 ,500 

Phlox Mountain Owl Creek 9,136 

Pilot Knob Yellowstone 11,977 

Quien Hornet Uintah 9,300 

Sailor Mountain 10,046 

Seminoe Mountains (highest) 10.500 

Washakie Needles 12,252 

Mt. Washburn 10,388 

Yount's Peak Yellowstone 12,250 



Contents 



Advantages of Irrigation 114 

Agriculture 103 

Area " 7 

Building Stone 72 

Canals — 

Under Carey Act 120 

Not under Carey Act 137 

Carey Desert Land Act -119 

Climate and Its Benefits 58 

Copper Districts 86 

Copper Production 98 

Counties, Special Articles on — 

Albany County 10 

Big Horn County 13 

Carbon County 18 

Converse County 21 

Crook County 25 

Fremont County 27 

Johnson County 31 

Laramie County 33 

Natrona County 40 

Sheridan County 42 

Sweetwater County 47 

Uinta County 49 

Weston County 52 

Department of Immigration 3 

Dry Farming 107 

Educational Advantages 147 

Elevation of Cities and Mountains 159 

Fishing 153 

Frontier Days Exhibition at Cheyenne 155 

Fruit Growing 106 

Game Laws 152 

Gold Districts 79 



contents 161 

Gold Placers 85 

Government Lands — How to Acquire 130 

Government Reclamation — 

Canals 137 

North Platte Project 137 

Shoshone Project 139 

Grand Encampment Copper District 86 

Green River Soda 47 

Guides, Licensed 153 

Horticulture s 106 

Hot Springs — 

Saratoga i 19 

Soda 76 

Thermopolis 17 and 30 

Washakie 77 

Hunting and Fishing 152 

Immigration, Department of 136 

Irrigation 114 

Land — 

Arid Lands — 

Reclamation, Government 137 

Reclamation, State 141 

Coal, Government 136 

Coal, State 119 

Desert, Government 132 

Desert, State 119 

Homestead Law 130 

Isolated Tracts 134 

Timber and Stone Entries 135 

Mineral Lands, Government 136 

Mineral Lands, State 119 

State 118 

Land Offices, Location of 136 

Live Stock — 

Cattle 63 

Sheep 64 

Horses 65 

Swine 65 

Manufacturing Industries 145 

Mineral Resources — 

General Article 66 

Clays 73 

Coal 67 

Coke 68 

Copper 67 and 86 

Gold 66 and 79 



162 CONTENTS 

Mineral Resources — Concluded / 

Hot Springs 76 

Iron 78 

Lead 67 

Natural Gas 71 

Natural Plaster 73 

Oil 9S 

Salt 74 

Silver . 67 

Soda 76 

Stone 72 

Mining Laws — Apply to State Geologist, Cheyenne, for free 
pamphlet copy. 

Opportunities for Capital. 129 

Placers, Gold 85 

Population 5 

Public Buildings 157 

Railroads 143 

Schools 148 

Seminoe Iron District -. . 79 

Shoshone Irrigation Project 139 

Shoshone Reservation 141 

Stage Routes 143 

State Experiment Farms 113 

State Fair 155 

South Pass Gold District 79 

Taxes and Public Indebtedness . . . 158 

The State 7 

University of Wyoming 149 

Vegetables 106 

Water, How Secured 142 

Wind RiveR Reservation 141 

Wyoming at a Glance 5 

Yellowstone National Park 54 




LB Je '08 



V 



